The Sword and the Storm
by Equinox73099
Summary: He has lost it all in the pursuit of vengeance. she never had anything but remains steadfast in the pursuit of happiness. when they cross paths and she manages to stop him from implementing a permanent fix to a temporary problem, how many lives will be changed by the duo. contains OC/Juvia no/slash
1. Chapter 1

The Sword and the Storm

5th story im writing since I can't think of how I want to work on Defiance of Fate atm, definitely not abandoned just coming along slowly. This story will have an OOC Juvia paired with an OC, Hopefully anyone that reads will come to like my version of Juvia. This is going to be my take on the fairy tail world, I want to make a grittier, darker version of fiore and hope to accomplish that here. Most other pairings will be normal ships. Nalu, jerza, elfever, gajevy, all those.

**Disclaimer: I do not own Fairy tail.**

My sorrow, when she's here with me, thinks these dark days of autumn rain are beautiful as days can be; she loves the bare, the withered tree; she walks the sodden pasture lane. **-Robert Frost**

When it came down to it, Juvia knew she was Destined to be alone. She was cursed, after all, cursed to forever be pursued by the clouds that darkened both the sky and her life. She knew she would never be truly accepted anywhere, for how could anyone stand the deluge. Just as the rain washed away dirt and grime from the paved street she walked on, it also washed any chance at companionship away from her. Sure, some had managed to be around her for short periods of time, but they always left in the end, unable to endure the gloomy downpour that was the one constant in her life. She saw the wary expressions on the townspeople as she passed, wishing her to move along with their eyes, before the fields their crops grew on flooded. Juvia could not blame them, as much as she wanted to at times. They simply didn't want juvia to make their lives more difficult, it wasn't a hatred against her, though many places grew to hate her as well if she stayed too long.

There was only one place she was partially accepted, if only for her power alone, and that was her mages guild, Phantom Lord. she was found by Master Porla when she was in a bad place, and he offered her a place to her her own. While she didn't have many, if any, friends in the guild, they all tolerated her at least, and respected her for her power, for Juvia was a very powerful mage. She was a part of the S-class team of mages called the Elemental Four, and without sounding too prideful, she was fairly certain she was the strongest of the four in outright combat. The only two people in the guild that could outright overpower her were Black Steel Gajeel and Master Jose himself, by Juvia's estimation at least.

She kept a steady pace towards the mayor's office, slightly twirling her umbrella between her fingers, lost in daydreams, dreams of sunlight and clear skies. Walking through the front door she saw the man she needed to see, the tall, portly mayor, with a graying walrus moustache covering his upper lip fidgeting and pacing in his office. He looked relieved when she announced she was here for the job, and pointed out on a map hanging on a nearby wall the last known location of the bandits she came here to capture. She chose a solo mission, as her team only did the most difficult missions together, most preferring to be alone when given the choice. She left the office quickly, the man's farewell of "thank you for coming so quickly, good luck to you miss!" ringing in her ears until she was pack under the pitter-patter of the rain hitting her umbrella, which drowned out most other sounds.

The rain woman disliked trudging through the forest, as it always become muddy too quickly for her liking. She was forced to wear boots for most missions, as any other shoe would soak through straight to her feet very quickly. 'Just another downside to Juvia's burden.' she thought morosely. Juvia found a trail quickly enough, though she had her doubts about it leading to their camp, as it was only one set of prints instead of many sets, such as a group of bandits would leave, as they rarely cared for acts of stealth, preferring to stampede through nature to find an ideal place to set up camp.

The footprints quickly lead her to a clearing, where she saw a young man sitting on his knees in the clearing, long black hair covering his face. She also noticed a knife in his hand, one that was being clenched so tightly she thought he would draw blood. Juvia saw him move it over to his other hand, holding the knife over his wrist. The water mage grew alarmed, and quickly used her magic, "**Water Lock**!" she shouted, drawing water from the rain and the ground to form a sphere of water around the man and preventing him from moving the knife at all. She approached the man released the sphere when she was close enough to reach out and grasp the hand holding the knife, wrenching the blade from his tight grasp.

"What the hell are you doing!" the man shouted angrily.

"Juvia thinks she's stopping you from making a mistake." she replied calmly.

"A mistake… what the hell do you know about me to call that a mistake?" he retorted.

"Suicide is never the answer to your problems, no matter the severity of them. If you wish to die, you shall have to do so when Juvia isn't around to stop you."

"I'll do just that, now give me back my damn knife and go!"

"Juvia will not, as she refuses to contribute to your death, she will not have that on her conscience."

"You won't have anything on your conscience, it's my decision, and that's also **my **knife, so give it back."

"Juvia will… on the condition that you tell her why exactly you wish to die so greatly, and allow her the opportunity to try to talk you out of it. Juvia has been through many hardships herself, and understands that some pain may feel as though it is too much to bear, but she is willing to share your load if you will allow her."

"Whatever… just give me back the damn knife and get on with it." she reluctantly handed back the blade to the man, who stuck it in a sheath strapped to his lower leg.

"Will...will you tell juvia why it is you want to die?" she asked hesitantly.

"To put it simply, I have nothing to live for. I've lost too much, and until recently, vengeance was the only thing that kept me putting one foot in front of the other. Now that I've achieved my revenge, I don't have anything else to keep pushing forward for, I just want this to end." he stated plainly and wearily.

"May Juvia ask what happened?"

"I guess. My village was attacked nearly a year ago. I, being a solo mage, was away from home looking for work when I got the news that my home had been attacked. I rushed back as quickly as I could to try and help anyone, but as far as I'm aware, there were less than 2 dozen survivors from a village of nearly two hundred. My father died fighting the invaders, he was the only family I had left, so I was left to mourn him and my burned out husk of a home, unable to salvage anything besides the blades my father had mounted on the wall, as they were his from back in the day and enhanced with magic. I found out it was a group of dark wizards, 4 of them, that attacked the village from each side, crushing the defense. They had kidnapped a few people for unknown purposes i learned, but most of the people were slaughtered… I found out the identity of those that did it, and I've been hunting them ever since." he chose to fall back, laying down on the wet ground and letting the rain hit his face. "I just fulfilled my self-assigned quest today, I found the last remaining dark wizard and killed him, he wasn't even that strong of a mage, just average power, but he had a sinister aura about him. He was hanging out with a group of bandits nearby and tried using them as fodder when he realized he couldn't win, but they barely slowed me down and I got him fairly easily."

He sighed, then continued his story. "I diced my way through twenty bandits for revenge, and honestly, I don't regret it. But now it's over, I have nothing left to fight for."

Juvia looked sad, but remained mostly in control of her emotions, and replied. "Why don't you try living for yourself."

"Don't wanna, I'm a bastard, I know that much about myself. The best parts of me died when I lost the last of my family."

"Then what about finding someone else to care for?"

"Who would want a depressed, suicidal, killer like me for anything. I could die out here in these woods right now, and no one would care at all." he let out a dark chuckle at this. "Like I said before, just leave, you can't stop me."

"Why don't you come with Juvia," she blurted out quickly, wanting to help the broken person lying before her. "Juvia is a member of Phantom Lord, a mages guild, she is sure master would accept you if she put in a good word, you said you were a mage did you not? Anything is better than just giving up and killing yourself, please think about it." she pleaded, blue eyes brimming with tears at this point, though they went unnoticed by the man.

"Why the hell do you care so much what happens to me, you don't even know me?"

"Because… Juvia sees a little bit of herself in you, but while Juvia chose to keep going even though she had no one, you are on the verge of giving up. Juvia has yet to find her own happy ending, but she will always keep searching, as long as she has any hope at all of finding it! She will always get back up, no matter what life chooses to throw at her, because if she doesn't, it feels like she will lose a part of herself that makes Juvia...Juvia" she said passionately.

He remained silent for a moment, weighing her words, then slowly got to his feet, attempting to clean the mud off of himself to his best ability. "A little help?" she jumped, then watched as he turned around. She blasted him with a jet of water, cleaning him up, but soaking through his clothes. "Thanks." he said.

"Does this mean..?"

"Yeah, I'll come with you, if nothing else I can always leave if it doesn't work out." he stated after sighing. Juvia significantly brightened at this, happy she had managed to sway him.

"So, I guess since I'll be travelling with you, we should at least properly introduce ourselves, yeah? My name's Katsuro, I'm assuming yours is juvia." he stated it as a question.

"Yes, Juvia Lockser."

"Right, I'm katsuro toran."

"Well katsuro, would you be willing to take Juvia to where those bandits are? You see, the reason Juvia is even out here is because there was a mission asking for someone to deal with them, and well… you did that job for Juvia, albeit more brutal than she would have, but you completed it for her just the same."

"Yea i'll lead you there, but be warned, it's not pretty."

"Juvia understands."

—-—

After a while of walking, Katsuro began to notice Juvia was getting more withdrawn, becoming nervous, and after 20 minutes, decided to bring it up. "You all right, Juvia, you seem nervous?"

She startled at first, but then looked to him and smiled, "it's nothing Katsuro, it's just… doesn't this rain bother you?"

"Not really, sun's too bright most of the time so i wear sunglasses, but the clouds stop that. Not to mention that fact that it's the middle of summer and the rain is really helping to cool it down. Why, does it bother you?"

She grew sullen and replied, "Yes, it does," she began softly. "For as long as Juvia can remember, these clouds have always followed her, constantly raining. Juvia cannot even remember what the blue skies look like sometimes, what the warm sun **feels** like. She will never know, because she's curses to be the rain woman." she finished sadly.

"It's not so much a curse, as your magic subconsciously feeding the rain, you know."

"What?!" she yelled. "How? Juvia doesn't feel any drain from her reserves, so it must not be using much."

"Its not, in the grand scheme of things, because you have a stupidly large amount of magical energy. My guess is, it's been that constant drain for so long, that your magical core improved to keep up the clouds naturally, feeding the rain without you ever noticing the drain because it refills quickly. I can think of a few ways to stop it, at least for awhile if you want. One is I can try to help you navigate your core and stop the tendril of magic that's being fed into the clouds yourself. Or I can spar with you until you've burned through all of your magic, then, at least for awhile, you wouldn't be feeding the cloud as your magical energy would be focused on refilling your core. I could also attempt to destroy the cloud, then there would be nothing to feed magic into until you create another cloud, which I doubt you could do subconsciously."

"How do you know all of this? Juvia has been been trying to find help for this all her life, so how do you know how to help me!" she demanded emotionally, even switching into first person, truly showing how much this affected her. "Tell me...please." she nearly whispered, eyes brimming with tears.

"I can sense magical energy, and my father taught me a spell that makes it visible to my eyes, you can even see it, look." she walked closer and examined his eyes, only to find tiny magic circles over the cornea of his hazel colored eyes. "I can see the tendril of magic being fed into the cloud, and I can also see the miniscule amount of magic in each raindrop, it honestly is almost nothing per drop, but it adds up you know. Plus, like you said, you thought it was a curse, so you've been trying to find a countercurse to a curse that doesn't exist. And about knowing how much energy you have, like I said, I can sense magic, and yours is like my own, it's like a raging river coming from your core when you use it whereas most average mages get a stream or creek at most. If you expanded out and focused on creating a magical aura around you, I'm sure it would feel like swimming in the middle of a lake of magic."

"And you have a similar amount of energy?" she asked, flabbergasted.

"Let's just say I'm no slouch when it comes to magic, and leave it at that for now." he stated, then softened his tone. "Now, would you like my help Juvia."

She ran over to him and grabbed his hands, dropping her umbrella into a puddle, "pleasepleaseplease! Please...help me." she begged. "I've lived with this burden for so long, the rain has driven away **everyone** I've cared about. The woman who took me in at the orphanage when I was an infant, she looked after me until she felt I could survive on my own, then she forced me out of the only home I'd known and told me to never come back, I sat crying in the forest for a full day afterwards crying over what I'd lost. I drifted from town to town until Master Jose found me and offered me a place in Phantom, and even the people in Phantom dislike me, but they accept me because I'm powerful. B-but that's not what I want! I want people to accept me for me! Not because I'm a strong mage! I want friends, family, love, but I've been denied all of that because of this damn rain my entire life! Even my first boyfriend Bora broke up with me after a few months because 'this rain is so gloomy, I'm sorry but I can't stand it anymore.'. Juvia hasn't been in a relationship since Bora because she was too scared of being hurt again. Please take this away from me, help me see the sun again." she finished her plea, tears masked by the rain now soaking her, causing her curled hair to unfurl and straighten out.

"Juvia… I had no idea things had been so bad for you. I'll help you Juvia, and once this is over with, how about you make your first friend by starting with me, though I'd be your friend even with the rain, you might not believe me, but I swear I would never abandon someone so obviously in need of a companion as yourself Juvia." he was astounded at how Juvia had managed to stay sane up to this point, and retain such a kind soul as to go so far to save someone like him when she didn't have to. He swore a vow that he would help Juvia see the sun.

"How do you want to go about this Juvia, which option do you want to try."

She had mostly composed herself at this point, but she was still without her umbrella, not even noticing that she was getting wet at this point, too engrossed in the new hope that had bloomed in her heart, hope that she might be free of the clouds and rain finally. Her blue eyes stared hard at Katsuro, thinking about her choices. "Let's try having Juvia close it herself, so she'll be able to do it later on if the rain tries to come back." Ketsuro smiled gently and said. "Alright, close your eyes and find your magical core, I'm sure someone as strong as you has meditated before and found it, at the very least.

"Yes, Juvia has meditated in the past, but she found it tedious and difficult."

"I'll help you, don't worry. Now then sit down and cross your legs, that's it. Close your eyes and start counting, that's what I do. Count until the only thought in your mind is the next number, then stop thinking about counting altogether. It's an effective way to clear your mind; boring, but effective. Once you've cleared your mind entirely, start searching inwards for your core, it's easier for me because I can sense magic, but it shouldn't be too difficult for you considering how much magical energy you actually have." he repeated this a few times for her over the next several minutes, eventually falling into silence and meditating himself, reaching out until he could feel her magical core, waiting until she finally mumbled. "Found it."

"Attagirl, now that you've found it, search until you've found the tendril, it's the only thing that's using your magic at the moment, so you should be able to find it fairly easily. Once you've found it, **sever** it at the source, cut it, slice it, like you're cutting a piece of meat, just make sure it isn't connected to your magical core at all, not even a sliver or it'll repair itself." he felt her search out the tendril and cut through it, cleanly separating the connection to the clouds from her magical core. Over the next few minutes he coaxed her out of her deep meditation, as she wasn't used to searching so deeply into her magic and would've taken much longer otherwise.

By the time they had both returned to themselves, the rain had lessened to a sprinkle, and the dark grey clouds had lightened to a light grey, and dissipated enough to let blue sky and sun rays peak through the grey veil. She opened her eyes and stared for a long moment into his hazel eyes, then practically tackled him in a hug, repeating 'thank you's over and over. He just patted her back awkwardly and tried to prevent her from falling into the mud that she'd accidentally knocked him back into, though he realized the fruitlessness of that when he remembered she'd been sitting in the mud for a long while now, at least an hour and a half, probably closer to two by his estimation.

He eventually managed to calm her down, and nudged her shoulder with his own, urging her to look up. When she did, she saw the most beautiful sight, clear skies with the sun poking through the trees, letting rays beam down into the small clearing they were in. "beautiful…" she whispered, red rimmed eyes sparkling in the light.

"You know… I say the light is annoying most of the time, but yea, this really is a damn beautiful view." Katsuro said softly, basking in the view himself, though he glanced at Juvia for a moment and smiled at how joyful she was over something that nearly everyone took for granted.

After letting her bask in the sunlight for awhile, he got to his feet, pulling her with him. "Alright, I suppose we should make for the bandit camp, so you can get proof that they won't be a problem anymore."

"Alright, katsuro, let's go." she replied softly.

So they trudged onwards, through the still wet ground, not stopping for nearly half an hour, until Juvia saw smoke rising in the distance, and pointed it out.

"What's that, more bandits?"

"No… that's just the camp, I left it in a state after the fight with the dark wizard."

He led her through the brush, towards the smoke plume, dreading facing the battlefield again, and dreading showing Juvia even more. "Juvia, can I ask a request of you?"

"You gave Juvia the sun and sky, ask her and she will do everything she can for you." she smiled softly as she said this.

"Well you stopped me from killing myself, so I'd consider us even," he countered. "But anyways, I got off topic. Please Juvia, don't judge me too harshly for what I did here, when I saw that man, I lost myself in my rage, I don't even remember all of what I did to the bandits in my way, they were little more than a nuisance, but I'm sure I was fairly brutal against them. I would hate to drive away a new friend, especially one as kind as yourself."

"Juvia swears to you, on her life, that she will not turn you away for this, no matter what she sees. Though you may see us as even, Juvia still feels she owes you for what you've done for her, and even if she didn't, Juvia can tell you are a kind person as well, just one who has been affected by grief and let revenge cloud your mind. Juvia won't fault you for that, she will make sure she's around to snap you out of it should it ever start happening again. Juvia will be happy being the one to help you carry your burdens."

` "that's a two way street, Juvia. You help me with my burdens and I'll help you with yours. I told you, even if the rain didn't go away, I would still stick around because I see how brightly your soul shines against the darkness around it, I see it and it makes me happy to be able to call such a strong person a friend."

With that, he pushed on, leaving Juvia staring at him for a moment, before hurrying to follow him. They reached the camp quickly, stepping around a wagon to see the carnage that Katsuro had wrought upon them. There was a large group of bodies grouped up in the center of the camp, leading back to the far edge where one final corpse appeared to have been torn apart by great force.

"Like I said before, the bandits were little more than a hindrance separating me from my quarry. When I beat the dark bastard… I gave back what he did to my father tenfold." he stated darkly. Juvia kept her face expressionless and pulled out a camera from her satchel and began taking pictures of the bandits. She didn't take one of the dark wizard, as he wasn't part of the contract. When she was done she put away the camera, then looked at him, hard gaze softening slightly as she put a hand on his bicep to lead him out of the clearing.

"See, nothings changed, Juvia still wants to be your friend. You Say that Juvia has a bright soul, but she has seen darkness up close many times. Trust Her when she says that killing outlaws and a dark wizard won't change her opinion of you." she told him after they were out of sight of the campsite.

"Yeah, guess I was nervous over nothing, sorry about that." Katsuro said sheepishly, scratching the back of his head. They strode through the woods for awhile in comfortable silence, Juvia occasionally stopping to look at different areas that looked nice in the sunlight, a bounce in her step the entire trip back to town.

Katsuro decided to wait outside the mayor's office while Juvia went inside to turn in her contract to the mayor. She greeted the man, then reached into her satchel for the Photographs she took of the bandits, and handed them over to the portly mayor. As he looked through the pictures, numbering around ten, his face grew greener the longer he stared at them. Finally, he viewed the last one, and passed them back to her, choosing to sit in silence for a moment. "I asked you to capture them, you know, not massacre them." he began quietly. "What I saw in those photos would look more like an animal attack, were they not so clearly slashed by a blade. I do not see a sword on you miss lockser, so would you kindly tell me if you have any clues about who exactly did this?" he asked.

"It would be best if the person who did this remained anonymous. The culprit wasn't even after the bandits, but a dark wizard that had joined up with them. From what Juvia gathered, they chose to stand between this mage and their target, which resulted in the evidence Juvia showed you. She assures you, this mage will cause no trouble for your village, and the dark wizard was taken care of in a similar manner to the bandits, so they will also trouble your town no further."

The man stared down at his desk, eyeing a random sheet of paper that he had yet to sign and send off. Eventually he let out a long sigh and said. "I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. If I were able to, I would search out this man and attempt to have him arrested. But… this slaughter is legal, frowned upon heavily, but legal because of their own status as wanted men; I will leave things as they are and trust your word as the job was completed, brutally or no. just ensure he knows that such acts repeated near my town will mean the law being brought down to the fullest extent." he sighed again and dragged his hand down his face, wearied by the events he had seen. "Here is your reward Miss Lockser, 300,000 jewels as promised on the flier, plus a 20,000 bonus for a speedy resolution of the problem."

"Thank you very much, sir. Should you require a mages assistance again, Phantom Lord is always looking for work." with that she stood up and left the office, rejoining her companion who was laying a bench in front of the building, appearing to be dozing, with his forearm laid over his eyes to block the sun. a mischievous grin soon grew on her face, and could Katsuro see it he might fear for his person, but unfortunately he did not, which is why approximately 5 seconds later, he felt himself get doused by a jet of water, and approximately 7 seconds later, he hit the sidewalk as he had fallen off the bench, coughing as water had gone down his windpipe. Eventually he collected himself and mock glared at Juvia, who to her credit, had made sure he was actually okay before starting laughing.

"Could you have at least made the water a little warmer, that was ice cold!" he commented, conveying his displeasure at his current disposition, but Juvia merely giggled and offered a hand to help him up, which he took quickly, beginning to chuckle himself. The duo decided to have lunch before leaving town, stopping at a small cafe near the edge of the village called _the beanstalk_. The reason they chose this cafe in particular was it had an outside patio with serving tables, and since Juvia was still enjoying the sunlight, they wanted to sit outside.

Juvia ordered some tea and a sandwich as she hadn't eaten anything since breakfast that morning. Katsuro went for just an iced coffee, but at juvia urging him to eat, also ordered a donut for a snack. They sat in comfortable silence until they were done eating, then Katsuro decided to speak while they enjoyed the remains of their drinks. "So Juvia, I think we should talk about what's gonna happen when we're done in this town. Are we staying together, splitting up, what're we doing?"

Juvia looked concerned at the prospect of separating from her first friend, but answered. "Juvia would like it if you would stay with her. You could join Juvia's guild, Phantom Lord. She is certain master Porla would accept you, especially with Juvia's recommendation. We could stay close to each other that way, without one of us having to go to extremes just to see the other. But if you don't want to do that, Juvia is willing to go to those extremes for her first friend, she'll come visit you 4 villages over if you don't want to join Juvia." though she clearly looked like she preferred the first option, not out of wanting the easy way, Katsuro knew, but out of a desire to remain close to each other, a desire Katsuro shared.

"Juvia… I'll admit I'm nervous about the idea of joining a guild, i've been a solo mage ever since I left home when I was a kid drawn to adventure, joining a guild seems daunting," she looked down at this, trying to conceal her sadness. "But I'm willing to try it out, for you." she flashed him a blinding smile and got up to hug him, squeezing the air from his lungs.

After managing to get her off of him, he gasped out, "Damn girl, that's one serious hug you've got, I thought you were gonna break a rib." Juvia blushed but giggled.

"Juvia is a mage you know, she isn't just weak. Though she will admit she thinks she's a hugger, now that she's able to be around people." she got a predatory grin at this and spread her arms out at him, causing Katsuro to give a mock fearful look, before they both started laughing.

—

They decided to head back to Phantom Lord's guildhall on foot instead of by train, so as to allow Juvia more time to enjoy the lack of rain. It was a 3 day walk from the small village they had recently departed from. They realized about an hour out of town that Juvia was lacking in camping supplies, so Katsuro offered her his tent and decided to sleep under the stars, which Juvia was reluctant to accept as she didn't want to make him uncomfortable just because she was unprepared, but he managed to convince her by the time the sun started setting.

Katsuro managed to awe her for the nth time that day by helping her up a tree so she could watch the sunset free of visual impediments. She was graced by a cloud free sunset which lit the sky red and orange. She could see a flock of birds flying in the distance, what species they were she was unable to tell, but they made such a sight with the blood red sky as a backdrop, flying in a V formation against the impending nightfall. Sitting near the top of the tree, Katsuro holding her by the waist to prevent her from falling off, while unnecessary, watching the beautiful falling sun, Juvia was overcome by a feeling she had been missing her entire life, and it took her a moment to realize what it was; upon thinking it over, she realized it was a sense of peace, of belonging that had been denied her until now, and it nearly made her tear up again for yet another time that day. Juvia felt her entire life had done a 180 today, and she suddenly found herself exhausted. She leaned into Katsuro, who tightened his grip in response, and asked. "You wanna go down?" she only nodded with her eyes closed in response. He used his magic, though she didn't notice in her state, to cause a second branch to grow from the tree in front of the one they were already on, and walked onto it so he could swing her onto his back and climb down easily.

About halfway down Juvia burrowed her cheek into his shoulder and started speaking softly, only for them to hear, as though this was a private moment. "You know, Juvia wasn't like this before today. Before you saved her, she was always closed off to the world, unwilling to show emotion because she knew she'd only get burned in the end. But you changed all that, it's like when you helped her stop the rain, you gave her the key to unlock herself, and now she feels freer than she has in… ever, she thinks." she giggled quietly. "Juvia means this from the bottom of her heart, thank you for what you've done for her."

"You don't have to thank me Juvia, you've repaid the debt already, both by saving my life and becoming my friend. After my village was destroyed I didn't see my life extending far beyond revenge, but for the first time in awhile, I'm hopeful about the future." they reached the bottom of the tree, and Juvia hopped off his back and walked sleepily to her tent, bidding him goodnight softly, and literally falling asleep, on top of the blankets. Katsuro covered her up, but left the tent unzipped as it was nice outside that night, not too cold or hot, but perfect.

Before he managed to fall asleep himself, though, he heard a small found fill their campsite, having to strain his ears to hear what exactly it was. He realized after a moment that it was Juvia… lightly snoring, which caused him to let out an unmanly giggle. 'So she snores… that'll be fun teasing material.' he thought amusedly, drifting off into his own quiet snore filled slumber quickly.

AN: next time, three days journey and phantom lord! The juvia Im going for isnt gonna be a stalker who chases after a douche like show juvia, but she will still be the overwhelmingly positive person she is in fairy tail, without the slight creepiness for the most part, idk how different she's gonna be fully yet. Gonna be working on this and the other 5 stories im writing at the moment… this was just the one i had the most inspiration for at the time. Hope y'all enjoyed see yall next chapter. R&R pls, helps a beginning writer to see what he could do better.


	2. Chapter 2: on the beaten path

The sword and the Storm

Chapter 2:Descent Into Darkness

Here's chapter 2! As i said before this chapter will detail the journey to phantom and the start of phantom. Still working on other stories as well but this is what my brain is giving me ideas for at the moment. Hope y'all enjoy, R&R pls. I do not own fairy tail

_Every day is an adventure. _**-Joseph B. Wirthlin**

Katsuro was woken up the next morning by a combination of chirping birds, and a ray of sunlight beaming down directly onto his face through the trees. Stretching widely and groaning when his joints popped loudly, he slowly got up and made himself ready for the day. After a short time to get ready, he made his way over to the lone tent to wake Juvia, only to find the tent empty when he unzipped it. Confused, he shrugged and decided to pack up the campsite before looking for her to make for Phantom Lord.

After getting everything ready for travel, he put on his backpack and decided to start by calling for her to see if she was in the vicinity. "Juvia?" he shouted out while looking around the clearing for a trail to follow.

"Up here!" he heard a shout from above him, and looked up to find Juvia in the same tree they had climbed up yesterday.

Looking up at her, he yelled. "You about ready to go? I've packed up the camp."

"Yes, Juvia is ready, she's just been admiring the view for awhile, it really is nice, you chose a fantastic spot yesterday. Juvia thinks this is the tallest tree in the forest!"

"Sounds like I got pretty lucky, tends to happen often enough. You gonna climb down the normal way or you want some help?"

"Help?"

"Allow me to show you." he finished with a grin, and flourished him arm towards the tree, causing branches to form into a make-shift ladder for Juvia to climb down. Returning his grin, she teased him, "thank you very much kind sir."

"My pleasure." he said, jokingly bowing.

Once she had descended, he motioned with an arm to make the line of branches disappear, then motioned again, this time signalling they should make for the road to begin their trek. They carefully made their way towards the road, avoiding any muddier areas, eventually reaching the dirt path. Thus they began their hike, setting off in the direction of Oak Town.

—-

The duo had comfortable conversation while striding along the path, until noon, when Katsuro suggested they find a spot to eat lunch, which led them to a trio of rocks a short distance into the woods, still within sight of the road. The stones appeared nearly perfect for seats and a table, as all three had flat surfaces. So Katsuro set up a quick and easy lunch consisting of sandwiches, while juvia provided some clean water to drink. Partway through the meal Katsuro tilted his head slightly sideways, causing Juvia to look at him strangely.

"Someone's coming along the road, the way we were walking from."

"How can you tell? Juvia Doesn't hear anything." she questioned.

"I can barely hear them, matter of fact I can't at the moment, but one of them got loud for a second and I heard him, there's at least two."

"Here's hoping they're just travellers and not bandits, Juvia is in too good of a mood to want to fight outlaws…"

"Well you could always let me handle it?" he phrased it as a question.

"Would you be as harsh as you were to the last group?"

"Of course not, they were in my way actively obstructing me, these guys, if they even are bandits, are just here, and we'd just be targets of opportunity for them. I'd knock them out and use a lacrima comm to call the army to pick them up. Maybe tie them to a tree so they can't escape at worst."

"Well then have at it, Juvia wants to have a lazy day!" she commanded in a mock-haughty voice.

"As you command, my lady." he chuckled and rose up to get a look at the passers-by, only to see it was a group of four farmers travelling by wagon, he presumed to sell the crops that filled up the back of it. He sat back down nearly dejectedly, as Katsuro had been looking forward to stretching his legs a bit after his meal, Juvia noticed his mood plummet when he realized who they were, connected the dots, and started giggling. "Tell you what," she began. "If you are nice to Juvia, she will spar with you either later today or tomorrow. Nothing serious, just a quick practice match, but she will train with you."

Katsuro perked up at this and quickly agreed.

They finished up quickly and got back on the road, making good headway towards their destination, only stopping for a break once more, until they found a roadside inn later that evening they decided to stay at so both could actually sleep comfortably. Looking at the left side of the three story building, they saw the same wagon from earlier, now bereft of its burden. Two horses lazed in the nearby stable, munching on hay, neither paying the two mages the smallest bit of attention.

Katsuro was the first in, holding the door for Juvia as she trailed behind him. The young mage made straight for the Innkeep to pay for their rooms, while Juvia made for the bar to get them something to cool down with.

Juvia approached the bar, and motioned to the man behind it with a smile, beckoning him over. Once he was closer, she said. "Two ice waters please, and Juvia was wondering… when is Dinner served here?"

"Coming right up," he said, "and Supper's served at 7, barring any incidents or overcrowding."

Juvia looked at the clock in the corner of the room, a tiny thing hanging on the wall she had to squint to see, and found the time to be half past 6. 'Fantastic, Juvia is starving!' she thought happily, willing her stomach to not start imitating a whale's mating call in the middle of the inn.

"Ok, thank you." she replied, leaving the money for the waters on the counter once she was given them, and setting off to find her companion. She heard a commotion to her left, and looked to the corner of the room closest to the door and saw one of the farmers from earlier pointing at her with an angry expression on his face, which was quickly mirrored by his three companions after they apparently recognized her, though from where Juvia had no clue.

"I told you it was her! That's the rain woman! You owe us for a whole field of crops that drowned when you passed through our town." he demanded angrily. "It had already rained two other times that week then you come into the picture, causing a fucking torrent to fall on our crops nearly all day, we lost the entire field that was closest to that forest! Pay up now, or else." he stood up from their shared table so quickly he knocked over the chair he was sitting on, and the other man and two women followed suit, marching towards her with obvious ill intent.

Juvia was just standing there gobsmacked at the situation she had found herself in, cursing the rain once again, even when it wasn't around it was causing her trouble. She found herself, and took a defensive stance quickly, but spoke to the farmers calmly. "Juvia is sorry for your crops, she was looking for a bandit group that took up residence in the forest by your farm; she will not pay for your crops, though. She was just in town performing a job, it is not her fault simply for being there when she could not control the rain."

"You clearly can fucking control it, its sunny outside right now!"

"Juvia only recently learned how to control it, that very day, in fact. The rain cleared up fairly quickly once she learned how to stop feeding the cloud magic, so if it rained at your farm all day, then for the most part, it was a natural storm, outside of Juvia's control; another reason she will not pay for your lost crops."

"Listen here rain bitch," the woman began, brandishing a fist in front of Juvia's face, only for Katsuro to slip between them, having returned from the front desk, one hand at the hilt of one of the two swords strapped to his side, the other holding onto the woman's wrist.

"I think that's about enough of that," Katsuro began quietly. "Unless, that is, you want to find out how sharp my blades are. No? Good, now go back to your table, sit down, and forget that this ever happened." the woman looked afraid and tried to jerk back her hand, but Katsuro's grip was like a vice, and refused to release it to her. The men on the other hand, looked downright livid, one was even beginning to turn purple in the face, while the other looked like a blood vessel was about to burst, either that or he was extremely constipated. The taller one of the duo drew a dagger from his belt, and waved it in front of him clumsily.

"You think you scare me, I served in the fucking army, I know blades like the back of my hand, a little brat like you is nothing to me!" he was shouting at this point, drawing the attention of some of the others in the lobby and dining area. Katsuro just sighed, and took his hand off his hilt and waved it lazily in front of him. Juvia was confused at first, until she saw a root sneaking through the floorboards, remaining undetected by the farmers until it lashed out and wrapped around the blade, dragging it out of the man's hand. The root continued to grow, until it got to Katsuro, who took the blade out of the root's tendril with a blank expression on his face.

"You drew a blade on me, that means you wanted to kill me, right?" he said softly, but his face grew hard, cold, and Juvia began to feel magic weighing down on the room, making the air itself feel heavy. Sniffing, she also thought she smelled different types of flora from the forest, though she could not name the individual scents. She noticed his hand was back on the hilt of the longest of his swords, gripping it tightly, ready to draw at a moment's notice. "Since you wanted to kill me, that means you were prepared for me to fight back right? So that means you drew your blade ready to die, ready for me to kill you, right? If not, then turn and run little fool, because unless you're willing to risk dying, you should never fight someone who'll kill you… **I said turn and run fool!**" Katsuro was shouting, causing the now terrified farmers to turn tail and run out the door, the man who drew the knife tripping over himself on the way out.

Katsuro turned to Juvia, expression softening, and was about to speak, but he was interrupted by a throat clearing to their right.

"I'm afraid I shall have to ask you two to leave as well. Whilst they were the initiators in the confrontation, you escalated the confrontation even further. I shall of course refund you for your stay, but please leave." the innkeep said. Katsuro's shoulders slumped, but he took the jewels back from the man and stuck them in his money pouch, before turning back to Juvia with an apologetic expression on his face.

"You alright Juvia? Sorry about this, by the way. I'm sure you were looking forward to an actual bed as much as I was."

Juvia sighed, then smiled wearily at him. "Yes, Juvia's fine. And she was looking forward to it, but it's alright, none of this was your fault. You only defended me, and then yourself. Those stupid people are to blame, and if not them, then Juvia's rain is to blame for them even being angry at her."

"Nah, you're right, they're just idiots. Like you said to them, we stopped any rain you might've been causing, anything else that happened wasn't your fault." just after he had finished, he was interrupted by Juvia's stomach making itself known to the duo, Katsuro's own stomach responding to the hunger call, causing him to start laughing, and making Juvia giggle slightly through her own embarrassment.

"Damn it, we didn't even get to eat there." he grumbled after he had calmed down.

"Don't say anything about the 'e' word to Juvia, she's already starving…" she mumbled.

"Guess I'll have to do something about that, I'm sure there's something around here to hunt, big or small game, anything will do really. I'll go hunt, cause it's my own fault for forgetting to get us restocked on rations before we left town." they meandered down the road for a bit, eventually settling on a spot just before a bend in the road as the sun began the light the sky with an orange hue. Katsuro left the tent set up to Juvia, and went off to find some food before the sun set.

Just as Juvia was finishing setting up the tent, having already dug a small fire pit and surrounded it with random stones, Katsuro returned to their campsite with a rabbit in one hand, and a few birds in another. He sat calmly in the dirt and began skinning the rabbit first, causing Juvia to quickly turn her head away, face green. Half an hour of skinning and plucking later, he had the rabbit cooking over the small fire on one spit, and the bird meat speared into kabobs cooking on a second spit.

"Juvia must admit, while she hasn't had the chance to camp often, it almost seems like cheating the way you do it."

"Oh, how's that?"

"Instead of going around looking for firewood, you can just make a few branches grow and break them off for firewood."

"I can do a good bit more than that…"he said, downcast. "but yea, it does simplify things a lot, especially when i keep a lighter on me." he chuckled.

"Juvia's been wondering, what exactly is your magic, Juvia would guess nature magic, but she's only seen you manipulate wood so far, so is it a more focused branch of nature magic or something else?"

"No, it's just nature manipulation, you've only seen me manipulate wood because that's what I use most of the time, but I can manipulate the entire environment around us, though it's more energy consuming. I also know a few obscure types of magic, such as the mage sight I used to help you, and I also know a few basic spells from other branches to make life simpler, but my affinity lies with nature magic, just the same as yours does with water magic. Being solo means you kind've have to branch out a little bit, because you can't rely on a teammate to help you out in a tough situation, so you need to be able to get yourself out." he reached for the rabbit, pulling it off the spit and setting it on a second spit he set up away from the fire to stop it from burning, and did the same with the bird kabob. He tore off a chunk of bird and began eating, while Juvia just watched warily.

"Try it Juvia, tastes just like chicken." he said.

"Really?"

"Really." she moved closer to the food, and tore off a chunk of bird for herself, face scrunching up as she chewed it.

"That tasted nothing like chicken." she said blankly after she had managed to swallow the tough bird.

"Nope," he agreed. "Tastes more like liver, it's kind of disgusting honestly, but when you're hungry you gotta eat." at that she shrugged and reluctantly tore off a piece of rabbit, which she found more to her liking, thought still kind of bland. "This actually does taste a bit like chicken." she said after a bite.

"Good, then I can use it to get whatever god awful tasting bird this is off of my taste buds afterwards, save me a piece or two please." she just hmm'd around another bite of the small mammal. Eventually they finished their less than spectacular meal and turned in for the night, Katsuro once again choosing to give Juvia the use of his tent, which she was very grateful for.

—

"You know, we never did get to have our sparring match yesterday." Katsuro said hopefully, sitting at one side of the table they were occupying in the restaurant they had chosen to eat at.

"Juvia knows, she did say yesterday OR today, you know. She didn't expect all the drama that happened yesterday, but she gave herself some wiggle room for if she felt tired or something else." she replied candidly, sipping from the beverage she had ordered while they relaxed after their meal, which was much better than unseasoned rabbit and unknown bird.

"Yeah, just...still kind of looking forward to that, you know." he said, wiggling his eyebrows and nudging her foot with his own under the table.

She sighed half heartedly. "Juvia understands… we can spar after our food settles, but not before!" she finished.

"Fair enough, we should probably wait until we're out in the wilderness again anyways, so we don't risk property damage. Another thing, we are SERIOUSLY buying you a tent while we're here. This town might be small as hell, but I did see a general store on the way here, and it should have at least a small one person tent somewhere in it. I'd like to not have to deal with bugs for a night, thank you very much!"

They continued chatting for a few more minutes, before dropping some jewels on the table and heading for the general store. It was back the way they came from, near the large wooden gate they had entered through that passed as the main gate. Once inside the bland looking building, they were pleasantly surprised to find relief from the sweltering heat of the outdoors. Katsuro saw it was the work of ice lacrima in the corners of the room emitting a slight chill.

"Come in, come in. How can I help you today? Interested in anything in particular or just browsing?" an old man wearing an apron greeted as they walked to the counter.

"You could, actually. Do you have tents in stock?" Katsuro asked, while Juvia was browsing an aisle behind him.

"That we do, check aisle 3, bottom shelf for the larger ones, they get smaller as you go to the higher shelves."

"Juvia found them." she said as she lifted a large duffel bag onto the counter.

"Juvia?! That tent's gigantic! Downsize, Downsize! You're just one person, at most you would only need a 3 person tent, that one's meant for like eight people."

"B-but Juvia wanted the extra space?" she stuttered, not thinking that more space would be a bad thing, and while it was rather expensive, she did have the funds for it with plenty to spare. She wanted to buy high quality because she felt like she would be camping much more now that the possibility was open to her.

"Think about this for a second Juvia. You aren't used to camping in the woods, so you never carry supplies on you, but they do weigh a decent amount. Add in a tent, along with a sleeping bag, and maybe a few other odd items, You'll be carrying quite a burden on your back. With a giant tent like that you'll exhaust yourself. That monster would exhaust me, and I'm used to carrying a full pack with a tent! My tent's only a two person, but if you want the extra space a three would be plenty, I assure you." she sheepishly nodded after he finished his explanation, and went back to exchange for the green three person she saw, while Katsuro wandered off to the goods aisle to restock on supplies.

One canned goods related incident later, they were back at the counter, Katsuro's cheeks were slightly red while Juvia was giggling slightly, the old store owner watching them exasperatedly.

"I'll buy all the damaged cans alright, any I can't fit in my pack you can just give away. Sorry again about that, I had no clue that shelf was broken when I put the can on it."

"There was a sign on it! And it was covered in tape and glue!" the man argued, though they could both tell he thought this was funny himself.

"I was reading the other can I had! Don't judge me." he grumbled petulantly, making Juvia laugh outright. "Though why you wouldn't take the broken shelf down, I don't know."

"It looked odd, having just one shelf missing in the whole store, plus it just recently happened so I hadn't gotten around to replacing it yet." the aged man said without missing a beat.

They paid for everything and left the store, hitting the road once again. They made good headway towards Oak Town, and decided to stop slightly early that evening so they could get in a sparring match. They chose to have the spar itself a good distance away from their camp, just in case things got heated. The training area they chose was no clearing, it was little more than a patch of flowers surrounded by pine trees, but that worked out well for Katsuro's magic. They were also lucky enough to have a stream nearby, so while Juvia didn't have quite the advantage Katsuro had, she was not without resources.

Katsuro decided to get her riled up with some banter and taunts so she would actually fight him, so he began with, "I'll be sure to take it easy on you Juvia, gotta make sure you can get your beauty sleep comfortably in YOUR tent tonight, right?" while it wasn't that great of a taunt, he wasn't trying to actually piss her off, just make her put forth some effort in their spar.

"Juvia thinks that you need the beauty sleep more than her, Judging by what she can see. Juvia understands if you want her to give up so you don't wear yourself out."

"Oh ho oh, she can smack talk! Let's get down to business blue." he came up with the nickname on the spot, but it seemingly did the job of working her up, as her eyes narrowed playfully and she took up an offensive stance.

"As you wish, do you want to signal the start of the spar or should?"

"I'll count down."

"Alright."

"3...2...1…"

**"FIGHT!**" he yelled out, immediately darting to the right, which proved to be a good call, as Juvia shouted out "_**Water Cane!**_" sending a small circle of water gushing towards him. Upon smashing into a tree behind him, he heard bark splinter off the tree, showing the force behind the attack.

He returned the favor immediately, "_**Branch Whip.**_" his voice sounded across the forest, as the tree nearest Juvia seemed to gain a mind of its own, the lowest branches growing longer and lashing out at Juvia, smacking and slashing at her, pushing her back hard enough to leave tracks in the dirt. She ended the barrage with "_**Water Slash.**_" and a line of water flew at the tree, cutting straight through it at the base and toppling it, simply turning back to her opponent as it crashed against the ground with a mighty *thud*.

Katsuro just nodded, and smirked, which gave Juvia cause to worry. The worry proved to be well justified moments later, as the same tree that had been toppled continued to attack her, a smack to the back sending her reeling into the dirt. To her credit, she quickly rolled and practically bounced back to her feet, deciding if she couldn't take away his weapons she would keep moving and make a difficult target to hit. She first zigged, then zagged, and everything else under the sun dodging the wooden lash, all the while returning attacks to Katsuro, who was doing much the same because of the sheer rate of fire she was producing.

After 20 minutes of this, both were breathing heavily, Juvia was on her hands and knees having just ducked underneath another branch, while Katsuro was hiding behind the same tree Juvia knocked over, which had nearly had all the bark rent off one side from the ferocity of her blows.

"Hey Juvia!" he called across the destroyed battlefield.

"Yea." she wheezed out, using the lull to try and catch her breath.

"We're both pretty exhausted, and can agree we're too damn competitive right?"

"Yes…"

"And we can agree this has gone on for way too long, right?"

"Definitely, Juvia's ready to drop and she knows you're nearly there too."

"Yea, so I'm gonna do us both a favor and call this one your win. You've had me pinned behind this overgrown log for the past 5 minutes, and I don't see that changing until you drop from either physical exhaustion or magical, though I'd bet it would be physical."

"Woohoo, now Juvia has a question." she called out as she rolled over and laid down on the dirt.

"What's that?"

"Can you carry Juvia back, She'll just fall asleep here if you won't, she refuses to move anymore until she's had a rest."

"...I guess… but you owe me!"

"Then Juvia will just have to owe you."

Katsuro walked slowly over towards her, reached down, grabbed her arms and started dragging her towards their camp.

"HEY! Juvia said carry, not drag like a heavy sack of potatoes! Juvia's coat is already messed up enough without the added stains."

"You're so needy…" he groaned out, but Juvia caught a smile that let her know he'd been messing with her. He put an arm around her back and knees, and picked her up princess style to carry her back, which made Juvia blush slightly though she hid it well.

By the time they arrived, Katsuro just managed to set her down by the firepit before collapsing unceremoniously beside her, moaning about how sore he was going to be tomorrow.

"You know, Juvia doesn't know if she should agree to these anymore if you're gonna whine about it afterwards. Honestly, you were the one that asked to spar." she teased.

"Yea, but I didn't expect us both to go so hard like that. I expected a practice, not a full on fight. That's what I get for wanting to spar with an S-class mage though I guess."

"Juvia admits, she didn't expect you to do so well against her, so she might've let loose a little more than she should have." she sheepishly said. "It isn't often Juvia can fight without much restraint, if she does it on most missions she risks damaging the town and taking a pay cut."

"I know the feeling, that's why strong people like us have to get so damn creative with our Magics, the baddies don't have the same obligation to hold back that we do. But yea, it was nice cutting loose for a bit."

They remained silent for a moment, then Katsuro broke it. "Two more days on the road, huh. We should be at Oak town within two days so you won't be getting much more use out of the tent you bought."

"Juvia will make the purchase worth it. She intends to camp on a lot of future missions, if only because she can."

"Fair enough, so how do things work in Phantom Lord? I'm curious about how it might be different from solo work."

"Well, Juvia is part of a team called the Element Four. as you might have guessed, her team is based off of the four basic elements: water, wind, earth, and fire. Juvia is of course the water mage, Aria uses Airspace magic, he's a powerful opponent to face, because he can drain magical power through touch. Totomaru uses Rainbow Fire magic, and combines it with Pyrokinesis for an incredibly fine control on his flames. Some people in the guild say he could defeat Salamander were they to fight."

"Who?"

"Have you not heard of Fairy Tail, they're Phantom's main rivals at the moment, supposedly an incredibly strong guild themselves."

"Afraid not, like I said Juvia, as a solo mage I never had much cause to pay attention to guild news."

"Ah, well Salamander, also known as Natsu Dragneel, is a fire mage from Fairy tail, who uses Dragon Slayer magic, like Gajeel from Phantom."

"You'll have to point him out to me, I've fought a Dragon Slayer before, they're pains to deal with."

"Who did you fight? If you don't mind Juvia asking."

"Some prick who flew around on a purple snake with wings. Claimed his hearing was so good he could hear my thoughts and saw all my attacks before I ever did them. Our fight ended in a draw cause he left when the rest of his team showed up saying they had completed their contract, so he ditched me mid fight to leave with them."

"Why were you fighting him to begin with?"

Katsuro looked sheepish, but answered, rubbing his neck as he spoke. "I was in the area they were in and saw him toying with some civilians in front of a manor, and I wasn't about to let that continue. I honestly don't know which of us would've won, he dodged everything I sent out, but because I was sending out so much he never could counterattack. One of us would've faltered eventually, but I just… don't know. I'd hate to fight him again, the guy's a real menace. Anyways back to what we were talking about… about your team?"

She took a moment to get back on track, then continued. "Right, Totomaru uses Rainbow Fire magic and Pyrokinesis, he's a fearsome foe to face. Then there's Sol, our Earth Mage, though he also uses Sand magic. He also uses a spell to force someone's memories to the surface and let him view them, specifically bad ones. The worse the better for him as it will have a greater effect on his opponent. If he's feeling especially cruel he may create copies of someone that torments his opponent's psyche. Juvia...dislikes his methods, but she cannot deny they are effective. The team only usually get together for particularly difficult missions, though. Most of the time we stick to solo missions, unless the master assigns us a particularly difficult mission."

"Your master assigns you missions? Don't you get to choose them for yourself?"

"Yes, but occasionally master might request help with a specific contract, so he calls on a mage or team to handle that for him."

"Ah…"

"It's not too bad, and it doesn't happen often. Trust Juvia, You'll like being in a guild, it must get lonely always being alone out here."

Katsuro sighed and replied. "It is. It was one of the reasons you found me in the state you did, I think. I just kept spiralling down and down and I didn't have anyone around to pull me out, only myself and my misery until you showed up. Tell me, will we be able to do missions together even though you're in a team?"

Juvia smiled at him. "Of course we will. Like Juvia said, her team functions a little different from most, as we aren't very close. We stay separate unless the master requests it usually, but we do work well together. Juvia does occasionally work with Totomaru, as he's not too difficult to be around. Sol is...sol."she spoke flatly, letting her feelings for the man be known. "Aria, well Juvia thinks that Aria may be slightly insane, but Master Porla keeps him reigned in well, so she doesn't say anything. for the most part, Juvia doesn't work with them, so she wouldn't mind working with you, whenever you want." she finished sincerely.

"Thanks Juvia, it's...nice to feel wanted."

"That it is." she spoke softly.

Conversation tapered off once again, so Katsuro dug some food out of his pack and handed it to her, and after they ate, they turned in for the night.

—

"You know, I think I was onto something yesterday…" Katsuro stated as they strolled along the shore of the large pond they had found along the road.

"Oh, what's that?"

"I'm totally gonna keep calling you blue, not all the time, but some of the time for sure. I think it's one of the better nicknames I could've come up with off the top of my head like I did."

"Juvia would prefer if you didn't."

"It's either that or I shorten your name to Juv, that's all I got for nicknames at the moment."

"...Blue will do. But Juvia is going to start calling you Kat as retribution!"

"I'd rather you not."

"Juvia could call you tora for your last name… Juvia thinks that tiger kind of fits with you. Your fighting style makes you out as a predator, the name kind of works."

"Kat it is! But only when no one else is around. To sweeten the pot I'll do the same for you, blue. This way we don't embarrass each other in front of others." he stuck out his hand at her, wanting her to shake on it.

Juvia pretended to mull it over, even putting a hand under her chin and stroking, as though she had a beard. "Juvia guesses she can agree with this, though she thinks that embarrassing you would almost be worth her own mortification." she slapped his hand with her own and gripped it, shaking firmly, before giggling slightly and dropping it.

Katsuro was struggling to keep a straight face himself, though managed to limit his amusement to a slight twitch in his lip. Their moment was intruded upon when a dog nearly bowled over Katsuro running towards a lake, and a brown Haired man ran after him, pleading for the dog to come back, though the man did stop briefly to apologize. They watched the scene unfold before them, the dog Jumping into the pond and making straight for the center, forcing the man to have to wade in after the mutt. When he got back out, both were soaked from head to two, and after a small amount of muttering at his dog, he made to walk back towards the road. Juvia, though, stopped him. "Sir, would you like Juvia to dry you off?"

"W-what? How would you do that?" Katsuro was curious about the answer to this as well.

"Juvia can control the moisture in your shirt, and summon it to her. It might feel strange while your clothes are practically plastered to you, it will be better afterwards."

"Please do, I was on my way to town to buy groceries, when this mutt decided he wanted to go swimming… I'll never understand what dogs are thinking sometimes."

"I'd recommend buying a leash while you're there." Katsuro put in helpfully, causing the man to glare at him. Juvia seemed to be fighting off a chuckle, but waved her hand at the duo. Soon a sphere of water formed in front of her, floating on top of her hand, and both the man and the dog were bone dry. After profuse thanks, the twosome of mages managed to get back on the road and moving towards the ever encroaching Oak Town.

—-

Finally, after what seemed like it took both forever and no time at all, they arrived at Oak Town about an hour after sunset, dead on their feet. Katsuro noticed that Juvia seemed to be getting more withdrawn the closer they got to the small town, but did not deign to comment. He did, though, nudge her with his shoulder to get her attention, and smiled at her when she looked at him. She still looked troubled, but a small, genuine smile appeared on her face.

He noticed that many of the townspeople were staring at Juvia, switching between shocked and wary stares, some even glaring at her but making no move to go over to them.

"Well isn't this a warm welcome…" Katsuro drawled.

"Juvia is sorry," she whispered. "This is her fault, the townsfolk all dislike her because it always rained when she was here or at the guildhall. She's sure many of them are shocked she's here, because there was no rain to signal her approach." she hugged her arms around herself nervously.

"Eh, if they don't like you, fuck them. I know you happen to be a fantastic person. C'mon let's get to Phantom, I'm sure we're already too late to induct me to the guild for today, but we can still get some sleep without bitches glaring at our general direction."

Phantom Lord's main guild hall wasn't actually inside of Oak Town, as many guild's headquarters are, but a castle nearly 20 minutes outside of town. They walked at a leisurely pace as the hills and forest gave way to rocky mountainous terrain, Katsuro dozing on his feet and Juvia lost in her thoughts. Juvia grew more at ease the further along the trail they got, continuously glancing at Katsuro excitedly. Eventually she blurted out. "Just around this bend, you'll get your first glimpse of phantom! Juvia is so excited for you, the first time she saw it she was awestruck by how large and magnificent it looked. She would've been stuck staring at it all day had master Jose not gotten her attention by telling her to pick her jaw up before a fly got curious."

"Buildings are buildings Juvia, while it may look impressive I don't want you to get your hopes up about how awed I'll look by it. I doubt I'll be that...surprised…" he trailed off as they rounded the corner, and an absolutely behemoth structure came into view. It was a truly magnificent castle that stood tall between two stone towers, the lone tower on the castle itself over twice as thick as the side towers, and half as tall as them, all three towers slicing through the lower clouds. The main building stood as a bastion, a fortress in the valley it was situated in, mountains that surrounded the building serving as unbreachable walls, giving any possible enemies only one method of attack, the front. The main gate was made of metal, Katsuro deducted, as no wood would have the sheen it did against the magical braziers holding orbs of pure light attached to the front wall. It truly was an incredible sight, and while Katsuro didn't drop his jaw, Juvia saw that his eyes were as wide as saucers and his hands were slack against his sides.

"I stand corrected, blue… this place is fucking awesome! It's a castle, you never told me your guildhall was a freaking castle! I just assumed you all had a guild hall and lived in like a compound nearby. I thought maybe a manor at most. T-this is ridiculous!" he kept moving his head back and forth between the castle and Juvia, like he was watching a tennis match, causing her to laugh.

"Juvia told you that you would be impressed, maybe next time you'll listen to her. Haven't you figured out that Juvia's always right yet."

"Apparently…" he said blankly, then grabbed Juvia's hand, causing her to blush slightly.

"Well what are we waiting for, I want to explore this place! There's bound to be a ton of places here that most of you haven't explored in forever, that's the appeal of castles… antiquity factor as it were. There's gotta be a few rooms in that place lost to time that can be found again."

"Juvia never realized you were such an explorer…"

"I love exploring old places, especially ones no ones been in forever. It's like walking through history."

He proceeded to half drag Juvia towards the gate until she caught up on the conversation, smiled, and started running alongside him, not bothering to let go of his hand. They ran all the way up to the front gate, Katsuro slowing down as they got near the gate and staring at the building with a hard gaze.

Juvia, wondering what was going on, voiced her inner question. "What is it Kat?"

"You know how I told you I can sense magic, right?"

"Yes, what do you sense? Is something wrong?"

"I can sense everyone in that building, over a hundred magical signatures… but over all of them, covering like a blanket, is a layer of magic that is vile and dark, definitely a dark wizards signature."

"It's probably Master Jose you sense, he uses shade magic, and it is a darker magic…"

"Juvia a type of magic isn't likely to make me get a feeling as vile as this is, what I feel indicates the person behind it is a blight, the magical energy is giving off a serious feeling of malevolence, someone that isn't outright evil wouldn't give off a feeling like this…"

She never even questioned the idea that he might be lying, she knew he wouldn't do that to her. "Well then Juvia doesn't know who it is, the only guesses that she could give you are Aria and Sol, mainly because of their personalities, but she doesn't think they're evil, insane and cruel respectively, sure, but not evil…"

"I don't know either, there's so much of it I won't be able to pinpoint who the hell it is. We're gonna have to watch each other's backs in here until I can figure out who it is."

"Will your mage sight spell help?"

"No, too much magic, I had to deactivate it otherwise when we walked in it would look like a kaleidoscope of colors to me, might even send me into a seizure. The more colors there are, the harder that magic is to use, when it was Just us two, even though we have huge cores, I don't have to try to focus on too much at once."

"This won't be easy…"

"I know but we'll manage, I wouldn't want anything to happen to my friend after all." he said, wrapping an arm around her and squeezing her in a light hug, which she returned happily.

"Juvia really is going to become a hugger at this rate."

'Can't say I'd be too against her becoming one either, this feels amazing.' Katsuro thought to himself, but stayed silent.

"Well, we'll figure this out together. Time to go introduce me to your-our guild." she beamed when he corrected himself, grabbed his hand and proceeded to drag him in, in a similar manner to his dragging her towards the castle.

AN: next chapter introductions and first quest, hope you enjoyed, chapter will be out when its out, no set schedule it just depends on what i want to write about at the time.

See y'all next time.


	3. Chapter 3: The Savage Soil

` The Sword and The Storm

Chapter 3: The Savage Soil

Here's chapter 3, Hope y'all enjoy R&R pls, I don't own Fairy tail

Also question for other writers, do any of y'all rewatch the anime or read the manga while writing to make sure you get some things right? Or do you just get close and say screw it it's a fanfic I'm allowed small changes? Cause I've been rewatching the phantom arc while writing for this to try and remember some things i'd forgotten, like the name of the jupiter cannon, had totally forgotten what that was called until earlier today. Anyways i've kept y'all long enough.

_We are such stuff as dreams are made on, and our little life is rounded with a sleep. __**-William Shakespeare**_

The large metal doors towered over them, and would have taken both of them to push one open had they not swung inwards of their own accord when they got near them. The entryway was abandoned, but Katsuro could hear noise coming from the main hall of the guild, through a second set of wooden doors in front of them. Juvia, though, turned right down the forked paths ahead of them, heading somewhere else entirely.

"Where we going, Juvia? Sounds like the party's that way." Katsuro stated.

"Juvia needs to brief the master on her mission. You can go ahead and Join the others, if you want. She will join you when she's done."

"Nah, I'll stick with you. We can head there together when you're finished. I should probably introduce myself to this Jose Porla anyways, considering I want to join." Juvia brightened slightly when he said he'd accompany her, as debriefings truly could be boring at times.

Katsuro followed her through the twists and turns of the keep, trying vainly to memorize the different areas he was being shown, a difficult task considering how his second wind was wearing off, and the exhaustion was setting in two-fold. Eventually they shuffled to a black wooden door, and Juvia rapped it twice loudly with her knuckles.

"Enter." a voice echoed, muffled slightly. They strolled in, Katsuro taking in his surroundings, which consisted of...a library. The walls were stacked nearly floor to ceiling in tomes, old and new, minus the back wall which had large windows and a door that led onto a balcony. The man had a large desk in the center of the room, paperwork neatly organized on top, though he himself was not seated at the table. Instead, he was situated in a corner of the room, reading a book in a comfortable looking leather chair.

"Juvia lockser reporting on her mission, master." she said blankly.

"Ah, miss lockser, what was the mission again… yes, bandits, correct?"

"Yes, sir. Juvia was to find the bandits hiding in the forest outside the small village of verloss, and detain them for the army to pick up."

"And how did it go," he said, putting his tome down on the small circular table beside him. "I am assuming it was a success since you seem unharmed, though I doubt common thugs like that would land a scratch on you, my dear."

"The bandits were taken care of before Juvia ever got there. They had grouped up with a dark wizard that was being hunted by another mage, master, and the bandits got between the mage and his target."

Porla's eyes flickered between Juvia and Katsuro, seeking confirmation about something. Juvia elaborated for him. "This is the mage that bested the dark wizard, his name is Katsuro Toran. We met up in the forest afterwards and began speaking, and one thing led to another and he helped her stop her rain." she couldn't stop a large smile from forming on her face, looking at Katsuro for a moment to convey her gratitude once again, though Porla's face remained strategically blank.

"How...how did he manage that, my dear. As much time as you spent searching for a counter curse, I was beginning to think there was nothing that could help you?" he phrased it as a question wrapped in a statement.

"It turns out it was no curse at all, it was Juvia's subconscious feeding magic into the clouds that always followed her, causing the rain constantly. Katsuro told Juvia that it Helped her core grow larger by being constantly in use, so she never even noticed the drain. Katsuro taught Juvia how to seek out her core and stop the tendril of magic being fed into the cloud. It was that simple master! Juvia was finally able to see the sun!"

"I am overjoyed for you, my dear, I truly am. Now I must address the elephant in the room, and ask what your new friend's intentions are here. As you said, he seems to be a solo mage, but he must be aware that Phantom does not hand out missions to those not in the guild."

"Juvia convinced him to join us master. He was tired of always being alone on missions and Juvia really enjoyed having him as a friend so she invited him. Juvia can attest to his strength, he is comparable to her own magical strength, and is more skilled physically. He seems to also have training with the blades on his waist. Juvia thinks he would be a great addition to the guild."

Katsuro Just stared blankly at Porla, who stared back at him for a few moments, both seemingly reading the other, before Porla smirked and said. "Well my boy, I can sense a large reservoir of magical energy in you, if you had to measure yourself, what class mage would you say you are?"

"I'd put myself at about even with Juvia, whatever class you have her at."

"Juvia is an S-class mage, though she is on the lower end of the scale compared to some of the mages in fiore." Porla stated.

"Then I would put myself at S-class."

"I'm afraid I cannot Just take your word for that, my boy. I can initiate you into the guild now, as I can sense you have power, but I think I should arrange a fight between you and a mage in my guild who already has S-class to test if you are truly capable. After all, I wouldn't want you to take a mission too difficult for you to complete. Not only would it risk you getting hurt, or even killed, it would also hurt Phantom's reputation as we tend to complete the missions we take." Porla said seriously, mind whirring at who to test this new candidate against. "Juvia, how would you like to face your new friend."

"She wouldn't, sir…" Juvia said shyly. "Juvia already sparred against him once, and it ended with both of us exhausted."

"Hmm, perhaps Totomaru, or maybe Gajeel… no… I have the perfect candidate for you to fight, Mr. Toran. I will arrange the bout and inform you of the time tomorrow. But for now, how would you like to be officially marked with Phantom's crest? Normally I leave this task to others, as Phantom Lord always has a large number of mages coming both in and out of it's doors, but I think this would be better than putting off inducting you until tomorrow. What do you say?" His eyes had taken on a greedy glint, but were hidden underneath his hat so neither of the mages saw it.

"That would be fine, sir. To be honest, I think I'm about dead on my feet so the sooner I can get some sleep the better."

"Quite right, you need to be well rested for your bout." Porla stood up, bat wings unfurling behind him, Katsuro couldn't tell if he actually had wings or if they were stitched onto his coat, but they kind of creeped him out as they moved seemingly of their own accord.

Porla strolled over to his desk and opened a drawer, Red hair almost so dark it was black spilling out from his hat as he was looking down. He eventually came up with the guild stamp marker, and motioned for Katsuro to come closer. "Where would you like your mark, Mr. Toran?"

"Hmm," Katsuro thought about this heavily in the time they had spent journeying over, wondering where he wanted his guild stamp to be. "How about on my wrist, right here on top of my vein." Juvia took a small intake of breath at that, but remained silent.

The stamp glowed for a moment as it was pressed against his flesh, and when it was pulled away, the Phantom Guild mark was bared proudly against his skin. "Congratulations, Katsuro! We're officially in the same guild now, Juvia and you!" she raced over and draped her arms around his chest, hugging him from behind, which was a good thing, and Katsuro's face blushed beet red, something Jose picked up on, and filed away for later use.

"Thanks for bringing me Juvia, I'm happy to be in the same guild as my best friend." now it was Juvia's turn to blush, as he brought up a hand to pat her arms that were still wrapped around him, though she was still beaming at him calling her his best friend.

"Well, I do believe that both of you are in need of sleep, so I officially dismiss you from my office. Remember to prepare for tomorrow, Mr. Toran, as the mage I choose will be S-class as well."

"I understand, Master Porla."

The duo exited Porla's study, and Juvia began leading Katsuro to the male dorms.

"Phantom does allow its mages to stay in the castle for the first month rent free while they settle in, but after that you will be expected to pay the rent. Most mages choose to rent in Oak town or somewhere else nearby because the fee isn't the cheapest to stay here." Juvia explained.

"For now I'll just take a place to sleep, I'll look for a place to live later in the week. Do you stay in the castle, Juvia?"

"Yes, Juvia and the element four are under… special circumstances, so Master Jose allows us to live rent free in the keep, but we are the only ones given that privilege."

"Wow, why you guys specifically?" Katsuro asked

"In case we come under attack, Juvia and the other elements are part of the defense."

"I see… I think, though I also think there's more to it. I won't press though, just tell me when you want to." she looked relieved at this.

"Thank you, you're right, there is more but Juvia shouldn't really talk about it. It's kind of a secret in the guild, albeit an open secret."

"Ah, well I'll trust you to tell me if it's something I need to know."

"Juvia will if it becomes necessary, but thank you again for not prying."

They walked to the left side tower, which housed the male dorms, while the females resided in the right tower. Katsuro managed to climb up 3 flights of stairs before he gave up and settled for the first open room on that floor, he had wanted a decent view and thus was aiming to go higher, but he couldn't be bothered to climb the tower every time he came home. He went out to his window and saw Juvia standing in front of the apartment tower, and yelled down his goodbyes and goodnights before collapsing onto the room's couch and going to sleep, not even undressing or making it to bed.

He was woken up early the next morning by the sun's rays shining through the same window he saw Juvia from, beaming light into the room he'd slept last night. Since he was awake, he decided to explore his apartment, and see what he had available and what he needed to purchase. He walked down the hallway, noticing a theme of the entire apartment being painted with white walls and ceilings so far. He first found a basic bathroom with a tub that looked nearly too small for him to fit in, being the fairly tall height of 6'2 that he was, and a walk in shower to the left of it. He checked the room across from it, and found a walk in closet, which also had a hamper for dirty clothes inside it. The third room in the house, also painted white, was the first of two bedrooms, this one he was assuming was the guest as it was devoid of anything besides the bed itself and a tiny bedside table that held a lamp with possibly enough room for a glass of water as well, if he was careful. There was a small closet in the room as well, completely empty. The last room in the house was the master bedroom, which came furnished with a loveseat on the side of the room, a large bed with more small tables on either side, and a lacrima-vision mounted to the wall across from the bed.

'Spartan… but I can work with that, just need to buy essentials for now considering it's fully furnished. Shit, I better ask Juvia where they do laundry here, I didn't see a washer or a dryer anywhere!" Katsuro thought, looking around his bedroom for the L.C. remote, eventually finding it in a drawer in one of the two tables. He had Just turned it on to relax for a bit when a knock sounded at his door, so he got up off the bed he'd just sat down on, and opened the door with a flourish, wondering who would bother him already. The door opened to reveal a spiky green haired male wearing a monocle, who bowed exaggeratedly to him before speaking.

"_Bonjour_, _mon ami_. Master Porla has sent me to ensure you are prepared for your match, he has decided it will be held shortly after lunch. _Aussi_, the _pluie femme_, the rain woman, is looking for you in the main hall. When she heard I'd been sent to you, she requested that I ask you to join her when you wish to." the man switched between french and english at random intervals, Katsuro noted, and he wondered which was his first language and which he learned.

"Thanks, I'll be down in just a minute, would you tell her that, please?"

"Tell her yourself, _monsieur_. I am no Postman." he said blankly, then turned and left the apartment without another word.

"Well at least he's a nice person…" Katsuro grumbled, but rushed to get down to Juvia nonetheless.

It took Katsuro all of ten minutes to get to the main hall, and once inside he began looking around for the flash of blue he knew would reveal Juvia. He found said flash in a corner on the second floor, sitting in a dark corner booth sipping from a teacup and reading a book. She jumped up when he sat down next to her, setting the cup of coffee he'd gotten on the table harder than necessary. He chuckled when he saw her glaring at him, and the glare switched to a pout.

"That's not fair, you Made Juvia drop her book, now she'll have to find her place again." she groaned as she bent over to grab the book from the floor, along with the small ribbon she was using as a bookmark.

"Sorry about that, only meant to surprise you cause you were lost in that thing. What are you reading, anyways?" when he asked that, she blushed and crushed the book to her chest, hiding it from his view.

"N-nothing, you wouldn't like it!" she stammered.

"Really now…" he drawled. "Now I gotta know what it is." as he said that, he scooted closer to her and began poking her in different places, trying to tickle her to make her drop the book, but while she squirmed some, she held onto it headfast.

"Juvia... Unless you want me to get serious with the tickling, I'd suggest you let me see the book, c'mon it can't be that bad."

"Juvia accepts her fate." she wheezed out, trying to hold in giggles.

Katsuro sighed theatrically, then waved his hand at a decorative plant a few feet from the table, causing tendrils to grow out and begin snaking their way to Juvia, Leaves tickling her face neck and hands while Katsuro kept tickling her sides. After a few minutes of this, Juvia was cackling and gasping for air, flailing in the booth like a fish out of water. He finally wrestled the book from her grasp, and she struggled to sit up, book temporarily forgotten in favour of catching her breath.

"Why Juvia, I didn't know you were interested in these sorts of books." he said, smirking. "_The Princess' Wild Ride_, god that's bad even by trashy romance novel standards… would you like to explain yourself Juvia?" he said, placing the book face up on the table, revealing an illustration of a princess in a pink gown in front of one of the most unrealistically buff men Katsuro had seen.

"Juvia has nothing to explain." she said shortly, blushing again, partly from embarrassment and partly from being so out of breath. "They're Juvia's guilty pleasure books, they aren't the only things she reads, now can Juvia have that back please, she still needs to find her place again."

"Fine, fine. You go back to your sordid novel, I'll just sip my coffee like a good little mage."

"As you should."

They continued chatting through breakfast, and wound up grabbing a quick brunch before Katsuro's match. When asking Juvia who exactly he would be facing, he was informed she was just as clueless as he was. Katsuro's mind was whirring, trying to figure out who he was fighting, so he could form some kind of strategy, but he wasn't familiar enough with anyone besides Juvia to wager a guess, and she already declined the offer to fight him.

Around 11, Porla made an appearance in the center of the guild, and began speaking loudly so everyone could hear. "Attention everyone! At lunch today a Bout shall be taking place to decide the operational status of a new guild member. He claims to be S-class, so I have chosen an S-class opponent for him to face. If you wish to spectate the test, make your way to training field by lunch. That is all." With that, he walked out of the main hall.

"Guess I should go ahead and get over there… Wanna come with me, Juvia?"

"Of course Juvia will, she wants to watch you win."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence." he said, smirking.

"Well Juvia considers herself one of the strongest in the guild, and you kept even with her, so for you to lose, Juvia would, in a way, be weaker than your opponent." she stated matter-of-factly.

"Ah, I see, pride in yourself, not pride in me."

"Of course, by the way Katsuro…."

"Yes?"

"You're going the wrong way, training field 2 is to the right of the building, not the left."

"Ah, thanks."

—

They made it to the arena with half an hour to spare, so Katsuro decided to limber up with some stretches while Juvia found a nice spot nearby to watch from. There was already a crowd forming up to watch the spectacle, and it only grew larger as time passed. The arena itself had a treeline on the side not facing the castle itself, but had a flat dirt floor, barren of any plants. Katsuro subtly began moving roots under the ground to give himself a small advantage against whoever he was fighting, who he noticed, still had not shown themselves.

Finally, the Guildmaster made his way onto the grounds, followed by none other than the mage who came to his door earlier. The man's green hair was still spiked up, though it seemed to be his natural hair style as it didn't shine like it would through the use of gel. The gentleman smiled at him, pencil thin moustache moving with his lips, though Katsuro noted it was a fake smile, clearly for show, he doubted the man truly like him, or anyone else here. He was surprised by Juvia coming up behind him to whisper frantically in his ear.

"That is Sol, another one of the elements. Remember what Juvia told you about him, he is an earth/sand mage. You will need to watch yourself against him, he is powerful. No joke this time, Juvia has faith in your strength, she thinks you will win." she gave him a quick hug from behind, and walked off, not noticing the small smile on Katsuro's face.

By the time they met in the center, the nature mage had schooled his features into a blank, but wary expression, assessing his foe while side eyeing the master to see if he was going to speak, and when he noticed Porla was, diverted his full attention to him.

"Here today, we decide where our newest member ranks on the power scale for our guild! I have asked Sol of the Land, Also known as The Great Earth, to be the Scale, While I shall be the judge. Should he win, or at the very least impress me enough, he shall be granted the rank of S-class wizard. May the best mage win! You may begin when ready." he made his way over to a table on the side of the field, and sat on an old wooden chair, which creaked noisily underneath him.

Sol stared dispassionately at Katsuro, looking for all the world like he thought he was going to steamroll the other mage. Katsuro returned his stare evenly, betraying none of his inner feelings, but keeping one hand on a blade and the other ready to cast spells all the same.

Sol smirked when he saw his opponents wariness, and said. "You are correct to be nervous, _Monsieur _Toran. I was unsure until I saw the _mademoiselle _giving you advice, but then I was certain you already had information on myself. That makes this a fair match, as I read through your _esprit_, your mind, when I met you on your doorstep this morning. You would agree, _non_?"

"I suppose… wanna tell me what exactly you took from my mind?" Katsuro questioned warily.

"Oh, this and that." was his flippant reply.

Katsuro was tired of the banter, and decided to show that by rushing towards his opponent, drawing the longer of his two blades as he went. He crossed the field and was nearing his opponent in seconds, though that gave Sol time to formulate a defensive strategy. The earth mage shouted, "_**Sable Dance!**__"_ and suddenly the ground around Katsuro was whirling, as though he were the center of a tornado without an eye, battering him from all sides with piles and piles of condensed sand, pushing him back away from his quarry. Katsuro responded by causing roots underneath him to smash against his shoes, sending him sailing into the air, in Sol's direction. He landed running, still charging towards his opponent. Sol stopped smiling and said, "_**Roche Concerto.**_" piles of rocked began breaking themselves off from the ground, and launching at Katsuro. He managed to block or dodge nearly half by drawing his other blade, but many still made contact if only just, skinning his arms or sides or legs with their jagged edges. Finally one got a lucky hit, and smashed into his head, sending him sprawling on the ground.

Katsuro, blood running down his face, growled out, "_**Nature's Aegis.**_" and a line of roots grew out of the ground in front of him, intertwining among themselves to form a thick, solid wall between him and Sol, any rocks that weren't directly reflected quickly becoming stuck among the many twisting roots.

Sol responded to this defense by raising a fist to it, and saying, "_**Platre Sonata**_**.**" the sound echoing clearly over to Katsuro even though it was fairly quiet. Suddenly chunks of rubble from previous attacks, along with new slabs of earth directly from the ground, began clinging to that fist, creating a Larger scale version of it, which quickly began growing to gargantuan proportions. Finally, it stopped when it was larger than Sol himself, and the earth mage sent it flying at the woodland wall Katsuro was still hidden behind. The wall was annihilated, and Katsuro was sent flying back across the field, landing even further back than where he was when the fight started.

As the nature mage was groaning and gathering his bearings, Sol started chuckling and said. "If this is the best you can do, _monsieur_, I shall not even need to use my full power. When I stole your memories this morning I was expecting to have to play to your baser, more primal fears and sense of grief, but clearly _La Pluie Femme_ was mistaken in your strength, her faith ill-placed, _non_?"

"You know, when Juvia described you, I thought then that you might've been a sadist…" Katsuro groaned out, "and I can see now that I was completely fucking right." Katsuro spat out a pinkish mixture of spit and blood, and stood up, standing straight and proud even injured. "This match isn't over yet, _monsieur_." he finished mockingly. The nature mage reaching into a pouch on his belt, and drew out a handful of seeds, spreading them as far across the field as he could throw, and repeated this until his pouch was emptied. He then put both arms in front of him and began drawing on his magic, making the audience feel as though a weight had settled on the training field that made it difficult to breathe. Some began smelling different floral scents, even arguing over what they were actually smelling. Juvia just smiled softly, and knew he was getting serious finally, she had tired of watching him taking a beating quickly, as she didn't like to see those she cared for getting hurt.

A large forest green magical circle formed beneath Katsuro's feet, and he shouted out, "_**Terraforming: Birth of the Garden!**_" the seeds quickly sprouted, and different flowers, weeds, and patches of grass began forming along the field, some different trees even taking root and quickly maturing into large timbers. By the time he was done, the once barren dirt training ground was completely covered in a field of grass and flowers, with a dozen or so trees in different areas, spread across the field. Juvia though, was only staring at Katsuro, who was only just still standing, breathing as though he'd run a full marathon, sweat intermixing with the blood that was still dripping. He took a moment of respite, and stood back up the same as before, although still winded.

"Now the real fight begins, Sol." he said.

"The fight is already over, _monsieur_. You are struggling to stand on your feet, one m-"

"Cut the shit, I'm just not used to using so much power at once, I'll be fine, just you watch. I still intend on winning the fight, I'm not going to be downgraded when I've been capable of S-class missions for nearly 2 years now."

"If you insist, then I shall just have to _demontrer_, demonstrate to you that losing is not only a possibility, but an inevitability for you."

Katsuro didn't reply to the taunt, only raised a hand at Sol and roared, "_**Grassland Tomb; Branch Whip; Venus Man-Trap!**_" Sol went from confidently staring down his foe to using his earth magic constantly, repelling and dodging attack after attack. But everywhere he found himself assaulted by different magics, if he attempted to raise portions of earth to get away from the rapidly growing grass that continually tried to wrap around him and trap him in a green full-body straightjacket, he came under the onslaught of the branches that slapped, smacked, and smashed against every inch of his body they could access; all of this pales to the near 20 foot tall venus fly trap that was continuously snapping at him every time he came near it, and as it was in the center of the field, it was a difficult task to avoid the leviathan.

Katsuro was watching from the relative calm that was his side of the battlefield, breathing laboriously after the rapid use of powerful spells. Sol's face, when not panicked from trying to dodge and attack, or pained after failing, was absolutely livid, and Katsuro took no small amount of joy from that expression. Finally the fly trap proved successful in his hunt, and swallowed the entire upper half of Sol, comically leaving his legs flailing outside for a moment as the plant tried to fit the rest of him inside. The last words Katsuro could hear before the behemoth swallowed him were a muffled, "_non non non!_" making the nature mage chuckle a bit. He stopped paying attention, a mistake, and began walking off the field, only interrupted by a loud crash. He jerked his head over the fly trap, and saw that it had been absolutely shredded by another whirlwind of sand, on a much deadlier scale than what was used on him earlier. On the ground, in all his guts covered glory, was Sol, glaring murderously at Katsuro.

"Before, because of the fact that we share a guild, I was willing to just defeat you. _Non_, that will no longer be enough. Now I shall make you _souhait_, I shall make you wish that I had only defeated you so nobly. _**Merci la Vie…**_"

The last thing Katsuro heard before his mind was transported to a different time and place, was Juvia's desperate cry of "NO!". His eyes first went blank, then became, tormented, haunted by his past. Tears began freely running down his bloody face, and he fell to his knees, the legs that once stood strong against fearsome opponents now unable to support the weight of Katsuro's anguish. Juvia was only stopped from running onto the field to destroy Sol herself by the master's command, who had seen her attempt at interference. While she obeyed, you could see how much it was destroying her to do so, as she was nearly sobbing while looking at Katsuro.

Sol's face twisted into a truly gruesome smirk, experiencing the events the nature mage was reliving from an outsiders point of view.

_**-KATSURO'S P.O.V—**_

__Katsuro felt like he was in a dream, a dream he was unable to control or influence at all. No, he mentally corrected himself, not a dream. A nightmare, a memory of the worst of times.

He was running down the road he knew so well, into the valley he had once called his home. In the distance, he could see the smoke rising that signalled his entire world being thrown on its axis. He knew what he would find up ahead, but he could not stop his body from running, one foot in front of the other, to the destruction of all he knew. His mind knew everything that happens, yet he could still feel his emotions as clearly as though he were feeling them for the first time.

The worry, at seeing the smoke and smouldering buildings in the distance.

The sadness, at finding the hastily dug graves made by the few survivors before they left.

The horror, at finding his father's name carved onto a jagged stone.

The numb recognition, of entering the remains of his home, wind blowing away

the ashes that contained his life, the family portraits, the books that lined their shelves, both for pleasure and education, including his father's grimoire, every scrap of furniture they owned, the flyer that was framed on the wall of the first job he had taken, all were being scattered to the winds. He wandered through the rubble until he saw a glint among a pile a burnt wood. He scrambled to find some purchase, **something** **left** to ground him, and was relieved beyond measure when he found the swords his father had used when he was an active mage lying there, unharmed besides the sheaths being scorched slightly.

He was not ashamed to admit he sobbed openly, loudly, uglily right there on the spot, hugging those blades to his person as though if he let go they too would turn to ash and dissipate. He stayed there until sundown, numb with shock, until it turned to numb from cold, and he finally had his first thought since the gravesite, which was just one word. "Cold." it could have been used to describe so many things at that moment, the cold of the low temperature, the cold that his body was feeling from being exposed to said temperature, the cold of his heart, hardened by grief.

He found a few pieces of rubble that didn't catch from the original fire, and decided right then and there, over the small fire he'd started, that he was going to find who had done this, and make them **suffer.** He knew there was at least one survivor from the village, as someone had bothered to bury the bodies. He doubted any random wanderer would be kind enough to do that, though it was possible he supposed. If necessary he would look for incidents like this one and talk to _those_ survivors to find the culprit, or culprits. As he went to sleep that night, he wished he could leave this hell, return to wherever he was before, stop reliving this personal purgatory. His wish was granted with immediate effect as he entered his slumber.

—_**Back To the Fight-**_

The battlefield had been silent for the better part of ten minutes, besides the sound of Juvia sniffling, and Sol occasionally cackling madly. Porla had just stood up to call the fight, when Katsuro gave a great gasp of air, completely filling his lungs, almost to the point of overdoing it, then collapsing onto his hands and knees, coughing up a storm. Juvia instantly shouted out, "KATSURO, ARE YOU OK?" it took the nature mage a moment to compose himself, but he eventually rolled over onto his back and gave her a thumbs up, causing her to nearly collapse herself with relief.

"Well well _monsieur_, I must admit, your memory was truly a dark place to be, your suffering was overwhelming, I am surprised you didn't pass out, many people with less traumatic experiences do, yet here you are, worse for wear but lucid, _remarquable_."

Katsuro rolled over and wearily got to his feet, before rasping out. "You made a mistake, _bâtard,_" he began, mocking the way sol switched between french and english. "You chose too quickly, you went straight for the darkest memory I have. For most people, that may be enough to kill them, but anguish, grief, anger, helplessness; while I felt all of those that day, they were not the only emotions I felt. Actually, anger doesn't describe what I felt, it was all-consuming rage that consumed me on that day. Along with determination to find my father's killers, to get vengeance. Alongside that, was my hatred for the murderers. All those emotions swirled together, and gave me an unquenchable thirst, a drive to succeed against those foes. That drive helped create the unshakeable person that I am today. You will not best me through my memories, fool, for they do not rule me, they **are** me. You would have to show me all of my worst memories at once to even stand a ghost of a chance of breaking my will, but I don't think you capable of that! I think you hinged all your bets on that attack, hoping it would be the end of the battle, so now… now that I have proven otherwise, I'll claim my win."

Once finished, he began slowly walking towards Sol, one foot steadily in front of the other, picking up his blades from where he had dropped them, and sheathing the short one without stopping. Step by step, he encroached ever closer to Sol, who was visibly panicking.

"_Non non non_, you are weak, you are nothing compared to me. You are a glorified gardener, who should learn when to step aside and _révérence, _bow before his betters!" his words grew more frantic the closer Katsuro got on his steady march, his face remaining blank of any emotion, though still covered in dried blood, sweat, and tear tracks. Sol attempted to perform another spell, crying, "_**Roche Concerto**_**!**" but the most he could produce were a few pebbles rising to pelt against Katsuro's chest, signifying he was running on magical fumes. Finally, he reached Sol, and kicked him in the stomach, doubling him over. He then placed his sword against the green haired man's neck, blade side ready to slice his throat. Sol had switched from taunting and denying, to pleading and praising Katsuro's strength. Katsuro looked from the tearful man, over to Porla, and stared blankly. "Call it." he told the guild leader.

Porla smiled disarmingly, and called out for the silent audience, "Katsuro Toran is the victor! He has defeated his S-class adversary, so henceforth, he shall be allowed to take on S-class missions with impunity!" Juvia hadn't even waited until he was done speaking, as soon as the match was called, Juvia practically flew onto the field to wrap Katsuro in a hug, trying not to hug so tightly as to aggravate his injuries. She helped him over to the side of the battleground, though he seemed capable of walking on his own, and as one they sat down against a large oak.

"It always like this here?" he asked Juvia wearily, as she moved to lay his head down on her lap. She took a moment to reply, wetting a cloth with her magic to begin wiping his face clean, before speaking. "No, Juvia thinks this is either all you, or just general bad luck." she giggled as he squirmed under the cold cloth when she began scrubbing his cheek.

"I bet it's me…" he sighed out.

"Juvia doesn't mind, at least you keep things interesting." they both chuckled a few seconds after that remark.

"You know, this is seriously going to hurt tomorrow, hell it's going to hurt today, it's already hurting now!"

"Don't make Juvia laugh, or she might accidentally drop you out of her lap."

"Just speaking the truth."

"...You know, you really had Juvia worried for a minute there." she said, wiping his forehead with the cloth, then dropping her hand for a moment to gaze at him, conveying her fears and worry and anguish in one look that Katsuro understood completely.

"Never fear when I am here!" he joked, making an attempt at lightening the mood, but when it failed, spoke seriously. "Juvia… don't worry about me, I'll always come out on top, someway, somehow, I swear. I might need help to do it sometimes, but I will do it, whether it be you, another phantom, or a complete stranger that helps me. I will fight dirty, cheat, lie, kill if necessary. But I will come out on top, for as long as you want me to."

"Then it sounds like you have quite a winning streak ahead of you." she declared softly.

"One can only hope." he responded.

They heard footsteps coming closer and looked over to find Jose approaching them.

"When you have recovered somewhat, I wish for you both to come to my study about a job offer I received earlier today. It is S-class, but I think it's right up you two's alley." He spoke confidently, then bid them farewell and left.

Katsuro was the first to break the comfortable silence that came between them after she finished cleaning his face, by saying, "You know, as comfortable as this is Juvia, and believe me it's like lying on a firm pillow, we really should move at some point."

"Juvia supposes you're right, though she's fairly comfortable herself." she replied, running a hand through his long hair.

"Maybe… just a little longer then." he yawned out. Soon, Juvia heard light snores, and knew he'd fallen asleep. She just looked down at him fondly, still playing with his hair. She was lucky she really was comfortable, as there was no way she was going to wake him up by moving after the fight he just had. She did, though, reach out and grab the hand he had resting on his chest, and entwined it with her own free hand. Soon she too was dozing, back resting against the tree she had sat against.

—

"Ah, Miss Lockser, Mister Toran, please do come in and take a seat. Thank you for coming, now let us discuss the job I wish for you two to take."

"You did say it was S-class, right?" Katsuro cut in.

"Indeed it is, though I don't think it will be terribly difficult for you. A small group of dark mages has been terrorizing a small town near Clover Canyon. As you know, Clover Canyon has an arid, dry climate as is, but the people there work with what they have available. This group of dark mages though has been demanding a weekly payment from them just so they can go about their lives as normal. They demand large sums, each individual payment equalling the pay for an A-Class mission, and if they do not receive them on time, they make life unbearable for those in the village. The group consists of five mages, each one with their talents. The one causing the most trouble for the townsfolk would be the weather mage, who is denying them the little amounts of rain they would normally collect for farming. Then they have a sand mage who, in that area, is considered an S-Class foe. The other three are unknowns, so you'll need to watch yourself, the job is to capture those dark mages and deliver them to the local Magic Council outpost for judgement. The reward is substantial, 1 million jewels, even split in half, it is still a large reward, hopefully large enough to entice you to accept..." he said hopefully.

"Sounds pretty straightforward…" Katsuro said, looking to Juvia, who nodded her agreement.

"We accept." they said together.

"Fantastic! I wish you the best of luck. I have another, important mission in the works as well, when I get more definite information about it, I shall inform you both of its contents."

"Sir, if I may ask, do you often hand out contracts to the mages?"

"I only handle the S-class contracts personally, and I only personally assign mages for jobs on the more important ones. This would build influence for Phantom lord as a capable guild in Clover canyon, so I deem it an important mission. Should you succeed, it would be a boon in negotiations for building a guild branch there." Porla stated.

"Now then, as I said before, good luck on your mission, and I may have something for one or both of you upon your return." he went back to the corner they found him at the first time and, taking it for the dismissal it was, both young mages left to begin packing for their job.

AN: starting to get pretty long so I ended it early, next chapter will be the job, havent put too much thought into this so it won't be a full story arc, but after this Phantom arc officially begins! Hope y'all are enjoying, still working on defiance of fate and others as well but my muse is locked onto this story at the moment so it's slow going. See you next chapter.


	4. Chapter 4: A Malevolent Menagerie

The Sword and the Storm

Chapter 4: A Malevolent Menagerie

Hope y'all enjoy, R&R pls. I do not own fairy tail.

This chapter will include the first quest, and probably an intro into phantom arc, long as my muse stays the way it is atm. Also I realized that my line breaks weren't translating into the uploaded version of the story so changing my line breaks...

_"As you've correctly observed, this isn't a fairy tale, it's life. Lousy and evil. And so, damn it all, let's live it decently and well." -__**Andrzej Sapkowski**_

_**-LINE BREAK-**_

__Katsuro and Juvia decided to take the train to Clover town, only to be informed no trains were running to that area, so that they were forced to buy a ticket to oshibana, and trek through the desert climate of the canyon to the other side of it to reach their destination. The hike would take them just over a day on foot, through the blistering heat of the canyon. So naturally, Katsuro said fuck that and asserted that he was going to pay for a rental to take them through the desert, as he was sure there were some off-road magical vehicles at the local rental shop. Juvia concurred, once he agreed to split the cost with her 50/50.

That is how they found themselves racing through the sandy dunes, pure magical energy being pumped out of Katsuro to fuel the dark blue off-road truck they chose to charter. Juvia had long since abandoned trying to hold her hat on, and just held it in her lap, her hair flying all over the place in a similar manner to Katsuro's due to the fact that the truck they'd rented had no AC, so they were forced to keep the windows rolled down or bake inside the metal contraption. Katsuro's was going all out draining his reserves at a great rate in an attempt to get them to the town sooner.

After what seemed like an age, they came upon a worn sign signalling their entrance into the village of Acies. The town truly was tiny, settled right on the edge of the desert, mountains visible in the distance. They rolled into the center of town and parked against the side of the road. The duo of mages decided to wander until they found the mayor's office. While on their walkabout, they saw signs of the struggles the village was being forced to suffer through, they saw crops wilting from lack of water and animal water troughs nearly empty, any barrels or other items put out to store rain in were bone dry, the town truly was drying up.

Finally they were approached by a farmer asking if they were looking for something. Upon asking where the mayor's office was, he pointed them to an unassuming farmhouse they never would have taken a second glance at otherwise. They strolled up to the porch and knocked on the door, and were soon let in by an older lady. She beckoned them to come inside and once she had them sat down on her couch, sat across from them and asked them what they were there for.

"We're here for the job, missus..." Juvia said politely, though subtly asking for a name.

"Oh you're here to stop those horrid wizards! Thank goodness, I don't know how much longer the town would have without someone to help us. We're nearly at our limit here. I'm sure you saw how low our water supplies are getting due to the drought they're enforcing on us. Oh, and please call me Sakura, none of that missus stuff."

"Yes, we saw on the way, your farm animals are going to suffer from the lack of water soon and it seems the people are already slightly suffering judging by the rain barrel's emptiness. Juvia must ask if you have any extra information you can give us on the dark wizards though, Sakura." the old lady brightened slightly at this.

"I'm sure I can offer up something to help you… let's see; their leader is the one causing the drought, the weather mage. When they entered the town, it seemed as though they all deferred to him for orders. The sand wizard seemed to be powerful as well, what with the way he created a dust storm to cover their escape so we had no clue where they went. That is all the times they have been here by the way, not just the first. The only other one I can take a stab at their power is the one who always wore a trench coat, never mind the fact that it's hot as Hades out here. He seemed to teleport around, but only himself. He used it to dodge one of the farmers who charged at him with a pitchfork. He disappeared and reappeared behind him and knocked him out with a single blow. Our one warning they called it…" she grumbled murderously.

"Thank you for all this, I'm sure it will come in handy when we try to track them down. Is there anything else?"

"Yes actually. There is no need to track them down. They'll be coming back tomorrow to try and get a payment out of us. We've continuously refused them up to this point, it's the reason they're preventing it from raining. We don't think they're just going to keep leaving like they have been though. Eventually they will get tired of waiting and take it out on the town until we fork over the money. We've been very lucky up to this point."

"Juvia would say so… don't worry we'll handle it, but can you point us to a hotel in the town so we can settle in for the night?"

"Oh dear, I can't simply let you stay in a hotel, the only one in town is one I wouldn't even lock those mages in, let alone kind people like yourselves. You two can have my guest bedroom." Katsuro's head shot up at this, up until this point he had only been listening and nodding politely, letting Juvia do all the talking. Both the mages faces flamed red, and Juvia stuttered out. "N-n-no thank you, Juvia and Katsuro would need two bedrooms anyways, we'll just take the hotel." the old lady grew red faced herself, and said, "ah, I've misunderstood something haven't I. I'm sorry dearie, you two just looked like such a cute couple and I assumed… you can still stay here! This house is a four bedroom after all and I live alone, my husband passed nearly 3 years ago, and it's just been me since then, as our daughter lives in Hargeon. Oh don't look all sad, she mailed me a Lacrima comm on my last birthday so we could talk more often! But back to the matter at hand, I have plenty of room for the both of you, couple or not."

"If you insist, ma'am, we'll stay." Katsuro stated as it looked like the old woman wasn't going to take no for an answer.

The mayor showed them to the rooms she had chosen, two rooms side by side that were connected through a walk in closet. Katsuro wasn't sure, but he thought the lady looked especially smug when she told them about that.

"The restrooms are the last doors down the hall, across from each other. Be warned though, the right side bathroom is the only one with an actual tub to wash in, the other just has a walk in shower. I'll leave you two to get situated. I'll prepare dinner for us three at 6-ish."

"You don't have to do that, ma'am." Katsuro replied, trying to stop the kind woman from going overboard for them. Juvia seconded him, nodding her head at his side.

"Oh please let me, I never get to cook a nice large meal anymore! It would be my pleasure. And stop with the ma'am, boy, I told both of you my name." Sakura chided.

"...If you insist, Sakura." the nature mage gave up on trying to stop her, thinking it a fruitless venture. He just opened his door and went to unwind, leaving Juvia to contend with the iron-willed hostess.

_**-LINE BREAK-**_

The next day approached quickly, and with it the coming confrontation with the dark mages. Katsuro chose to hide himself in a nearby building while the Mayor and whoever else was held a position of power in Acies, while Juvia stood in an inconspicuously placed bucket and used her water body ability to turn fully into water. They were not forced to hide long, as only ten minutes into the wait, Katsuro began to see the sandstorm that signalled their approach coming closer to the town.

They were engulfed in the raging sands all too soon, Katsuro being forced to cancel his mage sight as the sand was similar to Juvia's rain, the individual grains were slightly charged, making it nearly impossible to see with all the different directions the granules were flying. Soon the storm let up, and five figures stood before Sakura and the two men flanking her. The nature mage took stock of his opposition, taking special note of the ones Sakura mentioned. He guessed that the leader was the one in the center, a tall man with short gray hair, though he didn't look a day over 30. He could see the sand mage clearly, as the guy was still surrounded in a small cyclone of dust, whirling around him like a shield. The teleporter was indeed wearing a black leather trench coat, and in weather hot enough to have a stroke in nonetheless. He then noticed two women who looked just alike, both with blonde hair, wearing matching clothes, obviously twins, or trying very hard to seem like it if they weren't

Katsuro was too far away to hear talking, but he could tell Sakura was afraid, though she held her head defiantly high, speaking in a clearly hostile manner to the leader. Katsuro waited for the prime moment to spring his ambush, which was a bunch of seeds he'd scattered across the ground earlier that morning. Sakura shouted something unintelligible at this distance, causing the leader to backhand the aging woman, sending her sprawling across the ground, being helped up by her friends. Katsuro chose this time to act, and pounced, a predator on the hunt, activating his ambush.

The seeds rapidly grew into a clump of saplings, then into full on trees, branches wrapping arounds the twins instantly, pulling them against the still expanding trunks and taking them out of the fight quickly. The teleporter moved himself to an unknown location at the moment something seemed off, escaping the attack, while the sand mage expanded his cyclone while powering it up, which protected both himself and the leader by shredding any branches that tried to breach the twister.

The nature mage strolled out of the building he was in lazily, like he had somewhere better to be, just to piss off his foes because an angry enemy is a careless one and a careless enemy makes mistakes. His branches poked and prodded at the sand mages shield, attempting to find a weak point, but any that got too close wound up the same as the original, a shredded pile a splinters.

"Tell you what, if you get rid of that shield and let me arrest you, I won't harm you. Oh, and I'll also need to know where that teleporter friend of yours went to." Katsuro drawled.

The weather mage looked blankly at him while the sand mage smirked. "Now why would we do that, I don't know about you, but I see a numbers advantage for us. Two to one see, I think I can take you alone, forget both of us fighting you, we'd slaughter you."

The weather mage spoke. "I give you a counter offer, leave right now and we will allow it. It is not your fault you chose to accept a job beyond your level, these people did not understand what they face, and as a result, neither do you."

"What I face is a few mages with a little power who think it means something, but whenever you encounter someone better than you, that extra power that sets you apart from most means **nothing**! **I am that somebody!**" As he said this, roots sprouted from under the ground and dragged both the mages under the ground up to their necks, leaving only their heads above the dry ground. "I gave you a chance to come peacefully, whatever happens now is on you."

The sand mage glared at him, all the while the dirt around him was kicking up, creating a cyclone to put the shield he was using before to shame, when he was next revealed both mages were simply being held midair by roots in a crater where solid ground used to be, and the roots were quickly cut by the grains of sand whirling around them, dropping the dark wizards to the ground. He then sent the miniature sandstorm straight at Katsuro, who tried to erect **Nature's Aegis**, but it was buffeted and torn apart quickly, causing alex to get covered in small lacerations. "I fucking hate sand…" he muttered, spitting out a mouthful of that very substance.

"And sand hates you, pal!" the mage shouted. The weather mage was surprisingly staying off to the side, analyzing the situation, which slightly concerned Katsuro.

"Not gonna help your buddy?" he egged the guy on.

"Should he require my assistance, I will step in. it seems he has things well in hand at the moment." he stated emotionlessly.

"Suit yourself, one on one just makes it easier for me." Katsuro shrugged. Juvia was still in hiding, waiting either for the weather mage to step in or for the teleporter to return, whichever happened first. The sand mage raised an arm at Katsuro and yelled out. "**Dust Devil!**" which sent a cyclone similar to the one he was using as a shield at the nature wizard. From prior experience, Katsuro knew that this mages attacks shredded through defenses, his at least, so instead chose to dodge by having himself launched by roots pushing him to the right, skidding across the ground when landing and drawing the longer of his two blades. He once again smashed roots against his feet to propel around the battlefield, moving too quickly for the sand mage's attacks to hit.

"Finish it Sabaku, or I will finish it for you." the weather mage irritably remarked.

"It isn't like this guy's just standing still for me to kill him, ya know!" Sabaku barked.

"I don't care, you heard what I said." he asserted.

"Fuckin' fine, alright." with that, he commenced attacking Katsuro with renewed vigor, shouting out, "**Sand Burst!**" causing globs of sand to float around him and compress themselves into balls, exploding on impact and peppering the surrounding area with hardened, clumped up granules. He continued the assault by sending two more twisters at Katsuro, one from the left and one from the right, which Katsuro dodged by leaping backwards. Instead of dissipating on impact, though, the two twisters combined into one much larger twister and proceeded to pursue him relentlessly, forcing him to be on the move constantly.

Katsuro finally had enough, and sent himself flying at tear-inducing speeds straight at Sabaku, slicing his stomach severely and sending a spray of blood into the sand. He landed in a crouch a few feet behind the wounded mage, ready to cuff him and toss him off to the side to be treated later, but the weather mage strolled up and put a hand on Sabaku's forehead, causing him to begin convulsing violently. The nature mage attempted to move up and stop him, but by the time he got within striking distance, the man had backed away from him, leaving a hand shaped electrocution burn on the head of Sabaku, who was clearly dead.

"You just… did that to your ally?!" Katsuro shouted disbelievingly.

"He was clearly bested, Sabaku had outlived his usefulness and became a loose end. I do not tolerate loose ends." the weather mage proclaimed.

"Why? It wasn't as though the fight was over, he could have been healed if you bested me! There was no need to kill him."

"As I said, he outlived his usefulness. I, Arashi, do not suffer weaklings and will not allow them to behold my presence. Sabaku showed me that he was weak, and therefore I dealt with him." Arashi stated emotionlessly.

"Well, I didn't like him, but I think I might hate you. So I'll beat you and prove to you that you're weak too, Arashi." Katsuro proclaimed determinedly.

"You are a fool, you've already lost this battle, but you've yet to realize it."

"From my point of view, it appears that I am winning," he commented nonchalantly. "How exactly have I lost. I've beaten your last ally, who you finished off. Your teleporter ditched you, I captured those twins right at the start. Please enlighten me, how exactly am I even losing, let alone lost."

Arashi began laughing darkly. "You truly are a fool. I ensure my subordinates are loyal to me, do you honestly think one of my own would abandon me so, especially knowing the punishment just for being defeated…"

"If he didn't leave you, then where'd he go?" Katsuro was honestly curious.

"He went to gather my reinforcements!" his laughter was reaching manic levels at this point.

Suddenly he saw the cloak reappear behind Arashi, along with… a third blonde twin, er… triplet? The woman had a smug grin, but the teleporter's facial expressions remained hidden by the high collar on his coat.

"Ok...I'll bite, how exactly did you time that so well?" Katsuro questioned.

"Time what so well?" the blonde asked innocently, the other guy just stayed quiet.

"You know what, I don't care. Just fight me so I can get this over with sooner." the nature mage sighed out, letting the tip of his sword fall to the ground. The woman grinned and charged at him, just going for basic hand to hand combat instead of magic. Katsuro obliged her, and met in the middle. She threw the first punch, one aiming for his head, which he blocked with an arm, only to shout in pain and attempt to withdraw from her quickly, holding said arm with his free one. As he was backing off he was attacked from behind in a surprise attack, three blows landing against his back before he could even turn around to face this new threat. Once he twisted, he saw that it was the second of the three twins, arms moving so quickly they blurred as she rained blows against him. At this point Katsuro knew he was outgunned and used his roots to propel him a distance away from the enemies, giving him a chance to recuperate for a moment.

"Now how did you get free, blondie number two?"

"Teleporters are awesome aren't they." she said sweetly. The speedster raced towards him, kicking up a path of dust behind her. She was on him in moments, pelting him with a flurry of punches, kicks, and other assorted melee attacks, putting him entirely on the defensive. Katsuro also saw out of his peripherals that the seconds sister was approaching more slowly, and seeing as she nearly broke his arm just from a block, he wasn't all that keen to face her fairly again.

Of course at this point in time, another party was introduced to the fray, the third sister, who was teleported to close range after being freed, and immediately sent a jab at Katsuro, who ducked under it and brought up his injured arm into an uppercut, only to feel like he smashed his fist into solid rock when it collided with her chin. With a strangled "fuck!" he got back on the move once more, at this point not even touching the dry ground, instead choosing to land on roots which instantly launched him again. He built up speed considerably by doing this, though it required much more focus than landing then directing his springboards, and quickly rivalled the speedster triplet, even surpassing her.

Katsuro attempted to go on the offensive for a moment and tried to lariat the teleporter, but he poofed away out of Katsuro's line of sight once again, so he continued moving until, upon looking up, he noticed dark clouds forming in the sky. First he glanced at where Juvia was, who he was sure was waiting for a prime opportunity while taking the moment to examine the powers of these mages. Then he looked at Arashi, who had his arms splayed out and his eyes closed, concentrating heavily on a spell, presumably the one causing the storm to form above them.

The next thing Katsuro knew, the world around him exploded. He realistically knew that wasn't likely, but having a bolt of lightning strike a literal foot in front of him as he was flying through the air made it feel like that all the same. He was sent sprawling into the sand by the resulting explosion of the magically charged lightning, speedster already closing in on him. Katsuro just managed to bring himself up to his knees when she arrived and kneed him in the face.

The nature mage had had enough by this point, and ensnared her foot on a root, causing her to trip when she attempted to back away from the blade he swung at her wildly. She missed the slice, but still got further trapped in the growing pile of branches she had fallen into. By the time his spell was done, she was inside of a wooden cocoon, out of reach of the teleporter and hopefully out of the fight as well. He launched her some distance away, hoping to get her out of range of Arashi's wrath.

He turned in time just to get a stone fist in the stomach, doubling him over, but the fist wasn't done yet, and was joined by another softer one that nearly punched a hole in his chest, surely breaking a few ribs just from the one blow. Upon landing and forming a small crater some thirty feet away, Katsuro quickly rolled to evade another lightning strike and growled to himself.

"Could you all just fucking not!" he roared. "One on one, sure… two on one, not as fond but I can handle it… three on one is just ridiculous! Not to mention the fact that the triplets all have enhancement magic, body hardening, super strength, super speed... This just isn't fair!" he complained loud enough for the entire town to hear.

The two identical sisters just grinned unrepentantly, while the weather mage kept his face expressionless. The sisters charged him together, forcing Katsuro to stagger up once again, beginning to tire. He splayed out his hands and shouted. "**Nature's Aegis!**" hoping to buy some time, but the two just smashed straight through it, giving him maybe a second's reprieve. Frantically, he yelled "** Wooden Lasso!**" which caused a thick root to come up out of the ground and pull the sister with super strength into the air, twirling her around and around as one would a lasso continuously, even causing her to vomit after a nauseating minute. Finally she was dropped, only to show that she'd fainted whilst being spun around. Katsuro didn't even pay her any attention, so focused was he on dodging the hardening mage.

Just as soon as he could spare a moment, though, he trapped her in the same thick cocoon as the other sister, the only difference being he made this one have barbed branches to give her less… incentive to break out. The two remaining fighters were separated by yet another thunderbolt, which harmed him significantly more than it did the stone-skin sister.

"Do you know any other spells besides that stupid lightning?!" he shouted at Arashi exasperatedly.

Arashi grinned smugly in return and called back. "Why change a winning strategy!"

He got the surprise of his life, though, when he was hit in the back with one of Juvia's **Water Cane**s, having waited until she saw the perfect opening to strike. She got him right in the back of the head, sending him sprawling onto the ground, eating a mouthful of dirt as he landed. Spitting out a mouthful of sand and dust then rolling over, Arashi saw a tornado made of water swirling up from a bucket, and from waist up, the torrent was replaced by the body of a blue-clothed mage. The rest of her formed quickly, and she stepped out of the bucket calmly, staring at her foe.

"So the weakling wasn't as alone as he led us to believe… interesting." he stated. "Awfully vicious of you to allow him to take such a beating, wasn't it?"

"Juvia knows that Katsuro can handle himself just fine. Her part of this plan was to wait for the best moment to strike. Too early on and you all would still be on the lookout for another mage, too late and Katsuro would be defeated. Juvia simply waited until she could catch you off guard, considering you are supposed to be the strongest of them all." Juvia explained.

"Clever witch. It doesn't matter, your plan hinges on defeating me, so you'll fail in the end. Then, should Ishi have lost to your friend, I'll kill them both, then anyone in this town that refuses to pay their due, then I'll be on my way." Juvia was disgusted by the way he sounded cheerful saying that.

"Juvia thinks you will find she is not such easy prey." she got into a fighting stance as she spoke, the smell of seawater filling the air around her as she started channeling her magic. It was matched, though, by the smell of ozone that was exuding from Arashi channeling his own magical energy, the two S-class mages preparing to combat each other until one of them was unable to continue. Juvia began the fight with "**Water Slicer!**" sending a razor sharp blade of water at Arashi, who sidestepped and shouted "**Sword of the Ten Fists!**" which sent a thunderbolt from his palm straight at Juvia, who created a hole in her water body long enough for it to pass through without harming her.

"**Water Cane!**" she retaliated, sending a jet of water that smashed into his stomach, pushing Arashi backwards, creating trenches in the ground by his feet digging into the earth. The weather mage growled through gritted teeth. "**Lightning Cloak!**" creating a sort of suit of armor that surrounded Arashi made of pulsing thunderbolts. He charged straight at Juvia, who attempted to counter with "**Water Jigsaw!**" causing her body to partially turn to water, giving her more maneuverability in close quarters, but also spawning smaller versions of her **Water Slicer**, acting as deterrents that shot themselves at Arashi every time he attempted to close the distance. The weather mage finally attempted to close the distance by propelling himself with a mighty gust of wind, but passed straight through Juvia, whose body performed a sort of reverse wave, spreading apart around him and reforming after he'd gone through, then proceeding to cover his back in small cuts from the aquatic blades.

Arashi roared his rage, seeing only red, and blasted a lightning bolt straight at Juvia, which actually hit her as she was unprepared for him to switch strategies so abruptly. Upon impact with her body, which was mostly H2O at this point besides her head, she immediately collapsed screaming in agony, her body reforming to its solid state. The scream drew the attention of Katsuro, who was still fending off the Ishi's stony fists.

The nature wizard was understandably livid, and instantly caught Ishi in a branch by the ankle, which she instantly punched through, only to get caught in a second as she was falling. The second branch flung her straight at Arashi, and due to her stony physique at the moment, it was like being smashed by a wrecking ball, and if it wasn't for his Lightning armor, it might have killed him. As it was, Arashi knew he'd broken at least two ribs and multiple bones in one of his arms, and was finding it difficult to go much faster than a fast walk.

Juvia was shakily attempting to stand when Katsuro joined her, looking at him as he landed near her. "I think we need to switch, Juvia." he advised quietly. "I can't fight my opponent well at close range, so my swords are practically useless, not to mention the fact that her hardened skin punches through whatever I try to use on her. Then your guy makes liberal use of lightning, not a good fight for you considering your water body." he took a knee beside her, wincing at the pain coming from his ribs and arm.

"Juvia agrees, that last shock is… not something she wants to repeat. Ever." she murmured.

"Alright, plan established. When I charge Arashi, you charge Ishi. 3...2...1...NOW!" he jumped up in a run, charging straight at the just now recovering weather mage, dodging thunderbolts left and right, even blocking one by using his wakizashi as a lightning rod and impaling it into the ground. He kept the katana in hand, though, and continued his mad dash, shortening the distance even quicker with his root propulsion strategy. Katsuro was on the man in seconds, but Arashi's reflexes weren't slow, and he was already halfway into an lightning cloaked uppercut that Katsuro was forced to sidestep to dodge. He turned it into a spin, bringing his blade around for a slice but the lightning cloak was not just for show, and it stopped his blade from inflicting much more than a long, shallow scratch across Arashi's forearm when he blocked it.

Katsuro heard Juvia shout "**Water Lock!**" and spared a glance to see Ishi imprisoned in a sphere of water being manipulated by Juvia, slowly becoming more desperate in her need for oxygen. Soon she succumbed to oxygen deprivation and passed out, which let Juvia release her and turn her attention to Arashi as well. The duo faced off against their foe, each wary of his skill and ability.

"One attack Juvia, we need to bust through that armor, so give it your best shot." Katsuro told Juvia.

"One attack… got it." she nodded.

"**Spear of the Wild God!**"

"**Water Nebula!**" two voices called out simultaneously. A plethora of branches sprung up from the ground and began twining around each other, spiralling a length of over twenty feet, ending in a sharp tip, which impaled itself against Arashi's armor and began driving him back. Alone, though, it was not enough to breach the lightning cloak, but Juvia's attack joined it a second later, twisting a helix around the spear and smashing against the armor with great force. The pressure was too much, and the duo's view of the weather mage was distorted by the smoke that came from the combined attacks exploding, sending Arashi flying through the air.

Upon landing, it was clear to see their power combined had rent through the cloak, and severely injured their foe. His clothing was in singed tatters, his body covered in burns, along with the stab wound in his chest. Yet still, the dark wizard attempted once, twice, to stand up, falling down each time until on his third try he passed out, causing Juvia and Katsuro to let out sighs of relief. They took a moment to recuperate, then Katsuro inquired. "So how exactly do we go about getting the teleporter?"

"Juvia honestly doesn't know… we have his comrades so if we keep a watch on them he might try to break them out. Though Juvia doubts he would. She thinks he ditched them and ran when it looked like they were going to lose."

"Me too, but I thought that once already and then I had to fight three more people. So I'm not all that keen on testing my luck by saying it again."

It would appear his luck truly was that bad, and Juvia had tested fate once again by repeating the words he ate. It was his sixth sense that saved him, causing him to duck just as the teleporter jabbed at him with his own wakizashi. By the time he brought his katana to bear upon the man, he was already gone, stabbing through Juvia, who activated her water body once again when she saw Katsuro get stabbed. She attempted to capture him in a **Water Lock**, but he simply teleported out of it and back at Katsuro.

"Juvia, Magic-Null cuffs! Get them ready!" Katsuro shouted as he parried his own blade for the third time. The nature mage anticipated the next attack, and instead of dodging his blade, he allowed it to stab him in the shoulder and grabbed the wrist of the hand holding it. The teleporter struggled to get his hand back, twisting the blade further and further and causing more pain, but Katsuro's grip was relentless, and Juvia managed to get close enough to bash him on the head, knocking him out. She cuffed him with a huff, then looked at Katsuro crossly.

"Was there not a way for you to do that without further injuring yourself?" she questioned, looking him over concernedly. She had cause to be concerned as well. If Arashi looked bad, Katsuro looked much, much worse. His clothes were torn to shreds practically from the Sabaku's sand attacks, and the ribbons that were left were burned from the explosions of the targeted lightning strikes. His body was already turning into a giant bruise from the three sisters, not to mention all the small lacerations bleeding, making him a truly sorry sight. He pulled his sword out of his shoulder with a pained groan, and collapsed onto the ground, his injuries and fatigue suddenly weighing down on him like the weight of the world itself.

"You're upset now, I'd hate to see how mad you'd be once you heard about my inspiration for that." he sighed wearily.

Juvia's eyes narrowed. "What would that be?"

"Well I figured his magic worked one of two way, either whatever he was touching teleported with him, or he could choose what he teleported, considering the fact that he freed the sisters. So I let him get close enough to latch on, and my hunch was proven right when he couldn't just teleport away."

"...You didn't even know that would work?!" she exclaimed.

"It was fifty-fifty, and we were going nowhere just fighting him like that." Katsuro elaborated.

"Juvia doesn't even know what to say, she really wants to smack you for your stupidity, but she doesn't want to exacerbate your injuries. You'll get off easily this time, but take better care of yourself in the future." she pleaded.

"I'll do my best, but three versus one odds are never fun. Neither are fights against other S-class mages for that matter. Matter of fact, pretty much every fight I've been in today sucked…"

"This was a difficult mission…" Juvia allowed. "But Juvia isn't a fan of seeing you half-dead, so please be careful in the future, if you can."

"I'll have you know that I, at most, look a quarter dead!" he argued. "...I will try, Juvia. It's not like I was actually trying to get hurt today, these guys just had the advantage and they pressed it."

"Juvia knows… come on, we should go fetch our prisoners before they get any bright ideas."

"Yeah," he groaned, slowly getting to his feet. "The sisters are fairly secure, but we need to get Arashi over there cuffed."

_**-LINE BREAK-**_

"Oh my word…" Sakura breathed as Juvia helped Katsuro limp into the healer's office.

"Just a scratch." Katsuro tried to smile, but it came off as a grimace. "Anyways, how are you doing, Sakura? I saw that guy slapped you pretty hard."

"Apparently better than you." she retorted, causing Juvia to snort. "I'll have a sore neck for a day or two, at most. Will you be alright?"

"With rest, relaxation, and a lot of complaining to Juvia, sure." he stated lightly.

"You will do no such thing. It isn't Juvia's fault that you got hurt."

"Yea but you're like my only friend right now, so you need to put up with all my complaining since I can't complain to anyone else."

"...Juvia doesn't understand how you think sometimes…"

"Just sometimes?"

"Point. All the time." they started chuckling, but Katsuro quickly groaned and grabbed his chest. Juvia lowered him into a chair to wait on the doctor, and sat down beside him.

"What happened to the mages, if I may ask?"

"All locked up tight with Magic-Nullifying cuffs, and tied ten spaces apart from each other by branches, besides the sand mage. He was betrayed by the weather mage. They won't be going anywhere until the magic council sends someone to collect them. Your road might be in need of some repair, though. I'm pretty sure it was damaged during the conflict."

"If that is the worst thing to come of this conflict, I'm certainly okay with that." she assuaged any fears they had about portions of the reward being taken to cover repairs.

The doctor chose that moment to call him back, and Juvia helped him back up, the duo saying goodbye to Sakura before joining the healer. Just over an hour later, Katsuro left the hospital looking half mummified under his clothes, and carrying an assortment of medicines to speed his recovery. He'd even convinced Juvia to get checked up from where she got electrified, but the doctor just informed her to take it easy for a day or two. Their wallets were significantly heavier, having just been paid their 500 thousand jewel each, as they made their way toward their truck. They got on their way, Juvia driving this time as Katsuro's magic was still drained from the fight.

It was past dusk when they made it back to oshibana and returned the rental, so they chose to rent a hotel room for the night. Thanks to his medicine, Katsuro was out as soon as his head hit the pillow, and Juvia followed not too long after out of fatigue.

_**-LINE BREAK-**_

The first train left just after dawn, which Katsuro an Juvia totally missed due to oversleeping. So instead they bought a ticket for the twelve o'clock train to Oak Town and got some brunch while they waited. Once on the train, Juvia pulled out a book, another penny dreadful Katsuro noted, and the nature mage took to observing the surroundings they passed.

They made it back to Oak Town, and subsequently Phantom, within a few hours and went to report to Porla. Juvia was the first into his office, Katsuro walking at a slower pace behind her.

Jose was conveniently in his study when they arrived, and beckoned them forward. "Welcome back, Miss Lockser. I assume the contract went well?" he questioned.

"Yes sir. Besides Katsuro being injured fighting them, the fight went well, and we were paid in full. Juvia thinks the mayor, a widow named Sakura, would be amenable to allowing phantom to build a station out there should you ask. She seemed very kind."

"Fantastic! How were you injured, Mister Toran, if I may ask?"

"The plan was I confront the mages, who were originally a group of five we had gained information on from the mayor. Juvia was to wait for an opening after I got them to let their guard down, then strike the leader. Unfortunately there was a sixth member that was teleported in by one of the original five, and all of them proved to be stronger than expected. We still handled it, though." Katsuro smirked.

"I can see that. Job well done, both of you. I was originally going to put the two of you on that second job I had mentioned when you returned, but seeing your state, I think it best if I pair Juvia up with one of her fellow elements for this mission." Katsuro frowned, but nodded his assent.

"Could you give Juvia the details of the job, Master?"

"It Is a retrieval Job," Juvia stiffened slightly, but Katsuro noticed. "One Jude Heartfilia has hired Phantom Lord, after some persuasion on my part of course, to capture his runaway daughter, heiress Lucy Heartfilia. This mission is not only about retrieving the girl, though. You see, Miss Heartfilia has decided to join a mages guild… Fairy Tail to be precise."

"Phantom's Rivals?" Katsuro questioned.

"Indeed. Makarov has been a thorn in my side for the longest time, and he will not make retrieving the girl easy. You see, Makarov sees the members of his guild as family, his… children." Porla sneered. "I find it pathetic, but that is the truth. So taking the Heartfilia girl will more than likely provoke open war with Fairy Tail. I intend to use this as an opportunity to **destroy** those fairies once and for all. The entire guild is readying for this assignment Miss Lockser. In fact I've already sent Gajeel out to initiate phase one of said plan, which is sending a message to Fairy Tail they won't soon forget. Be prepared, I shall send for you when the time is right. You are dismissed, but once again, congratulations on a job well done."

Juvia was quiet as they left his study, and Katsuro could tell something was on her mind. By the time they hit the main hall, he was becoming concerned with how withdrawn she had become, and confronted her. "You alright, Juvia?" She was so focused on her thoughts that she didn't notice him, which made him call her again, slightly louder. After once again being ignored, he underwent drastic measures and poked her in the side, causing her to jump nearly a foot in the air with an "Eep!"

"Why did you do that!" she demanded.

"Because you might as well have been on a different planet for all the attention you were paying anything." he answered unashamedly.

"Juvia was paying attention!" Katsuro simply raised an eyebrow, causing her to blush slightly.

"Ok, maybe Juvia was just a little distracted…" she admitted.

"Juvia, I could have replaced myself with Sol and I doubt you would've noticed so long as we didn't touch you."

"Ok, more than a little distracted."

"I noticed, so what's up?" he gently probed.

"It's the mission master gave Juvia… She's just not that fond of retrieval missions, especially ones like this. If the contract is to retrieve a bandit or a thief who stole something, Juvia is alright with that, but going and finding a girl who ran away from home… How does Juvia know she didn't have a reason to do that! She could be running from an abusive home for all Juvia knows, or maybe she ran away with a lover, Juvia doesn't know her reasoning and it's not like she knows this Heartfilia girl well enough to make an informed decision about it."

"If it bothers you that much, then why don't you just decline the mission?"

"Because it isn't that simple. Juvia can't just decline a mission from the master." she murmured.

"I think it is that simple, Juvia. If you don't want to do it, then you shouldn't have to. What would Porla do, force you to go? How? It's not like he has blackmail on you or something, is it?" he questioned.

"No...no, it's not like that. Though he can force Juvia to take the mission, and do her utmost to ensure its success."

"How?"

She hesitated, then sighed. "Remember how Juvia told you the Element Four were part of the defense for the castle and got to live here rent free as a result?"

"Yeah… if its about money, Juvia, then I'm sure we can work to pay it off without you being under Porla's thumb."

She grew agitated. "No! It's not blackmail, Juvia already told you that. It's...one of the defenses for Phantom Lord's headquarters is something called the Jupiter Cannon. Have you heard of it?"

"Afraid not. Is it anything like the magic council's etherion square satellite?"

"Not really, think smaller scale and not a satellite. It's a legitimate cannon that is highly destructive, it's not been actually tested on a city, but Juvia has been told it would be capable of destroying Oak Town in its entirety should the weapon ever be fired on them." Juvia elaborated.

"Alright, and this has… what to do with why you can't tell Porla no?" he pressed.

"How do you think such a destructive cannon would be powered?" she mumbled.

"I would assume some kind of Lacrima powering the cannon, probably charged by… shit. Juvia please tell me you don't have a lacrima somewhere in here that's connected to your magic." Katsuro beseeched her.

"Juvia could, but she'd be lying." she said in a light tone.

"Son of a- Juvia! How gullible were you when this happened!"

"Juvia had just been promoted to S-class okay! This was the only place Juvia felt any kind of acceptance and she wanted to **give** something back! So of course she would say yes when presented with an opportunity to help. For the most part nothing is ever done with it, but occasionally Master forces Juvia to do a mission by reminding her of that connection."

"I'll solve this problem right fucking now. Where's the lacrima, I'll destroy it!"

"Juvia doesn't know where he put it, but the cannon itself is nearly indestructible so you can't destroy it. The lacrima for the element four are hidden somewhere in the castle."

"Damn it Juvia. I guess you were being honest when you said you don't have a choice. What a fine mess you're in." Katsuro sighed.

"Juvia knows!" she cried. "Juvia will just have to do her part for the guild."

"For what it's worth Juvia, I would do this mission for you if you asked me to."

"Juvia can't ask you to do that for her." she fretted.

"You really could. I'd leave right now and grab her before Sol and you ever have a chance to leave, injured or not."

"Juvia **won't** ask you to take on her burdens for her. Plus, Juvia doubts master would be very pleased to learn he'd been disregarded…"

"To be honest, I can't really be bothered to care about what Master," he said with a sneer. "Wants at this point. I have recently learned that Jose Porla is, in fact, a raging dick with a superiority complex."

Juvia looked as though she wanted to contradict him for a moment, but then she shrugged in agreement. She sat down heavily on the ground, staring into the distance

"What a day…" Juvia sighed.

"What a day…" Katsuro echoed.

_**-CHAPTER END-**_

_**AN:**_ yet another chapter of Sword and Storm, also working on fresh start, defiance of fate, and wandering mage atm. Though i will admit that defiance of fate is slow coming. I've realized that i hate doing courtroom scenes… will be glad when I'm done with that chapter so I can move onto better things. Hope Y'all enjoyed, see you next time


	5. Chapter 5: Fairies and Phantoms

The Sword and the Storm

Chapter 5: Phantoms and Fairies

Disclaimer: I do not own fairy tail. Hope y'all enjoy

"_There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest."_ **-Elie Wiesel**

_**-LINE BREAK-**_

It took two days for Gajeel to rile fairy tail up enough to return, and Katsuro spent all the time he could trying to find a way to help Juvia. He explored all open areas of the castle that he could access, and even snuck into a few areas not open to general members, but it appeared that the lacrima was hidden in an area Katsuro could not reach without alerting Porla to his treachery. The rest of his time was spent helping Juvia come to terms with her job. Juvia at first thought of it as simply kidnapping, but the nature mage had multiple talks with her to convince her it was just another job to be done.

He hoped he had gotten through to her, but feared she would still suffer mentally from this, and vowed to himself to be there for Juvia should she need it. The closer to go time they got, however, the more firm Juvia got. She was finding her sense of steel, the will of iron that carried her to Phantom despite the hurts that the world heaped on her, the conviction that allowed her to survive countless S-class missions that would have killed lesser mages. She was Juvia of the Deep, and she would complete the contract to the best of her ability and feel regret, guilt, and sadness later.

When the Iron DragonSlayer burst through the doors 48-ish hours after Porla informed them he had left, Juvia was ready to get this over with. He kept a brisk pace all the way to Porla's office, his face unreadable. Katsuro heard the door to the study slam, and thought. 'Redfox is even more moody than usual… wonder what happened?'

He returned to the main hall after around forty five minutes, and made straight for Katsuro and Juvia's corner booth. Once he was there, he grunted. "Master said it's time. I'm gonna go tell the prick then you'll be off. Here's the picture of the chick, her address is on the back of the photo." After slapping the photograph on the table, he went off looking for Sol.

"It's about that time." Katsuro softly voiced after a moment of staring at the blonde in the photo.

"So it is." Juvia concurred wearily.

"Be careful Juvia, I'm not gonna be there to help you this time." he joked weakly.

"Juvia is always careful, It's you that has gotten hurt the most on our mission record so far." she retorted with a small smile before standing up and striding for the front door. Katsuro stayed at the table, put his head in his hands, and groaned loudly. Once he finished bemoaning their situation, he decided to go and search for the lacrima one more time, because if he could find it, then he still had a chance to catch up to Juvia. Whether or not Juvia would decide against the mission if he destroyed the crystal was a toss up between her loyalty to Porla and her morals, but Katsuro had a decent idea of which one she would choose.

The nature mage had already searched the castle mostly from top to bottom, but the atrium remained under heavy watch by guards that Jose stationed there. If he could sneak past them and get through, then he could check the last area he was aware of not having searched. If he got caught, then he was confident is his ability to bullshit Porla enough to at least lessen his punishment.

He climbed the stairwell leading up to the top floor quickly, and had to do a double take once he saw the door that had until now been under constant guard by at least four mages at a time completely unguarded. Katsuro kept a low profile and moved stealthily, not believing his luck would ever be this good. He opened the door just enough to slip in, but the large wooden entrance still managed to creak loudly enough to make him cringe. Once inside, he was unable to stifle a gasp at the size of the weapon within. The gargantuan cannon was at least half the size of one of the towers shouldered against the castle, though it was much thinner. There was a giant spherical lacrime above the cannon connected to it by cables, but there were also cables leading to four other lacrima scattered throughout the room.

The smaller crystals were the color of their respective elements: red, blue, green, and gray. Katsuro took a completely wild guess that the blue one was the lacrima connected to Juvia's magic, and sauntered over to it. At this point he'd given up on being quiet, and his boots were echoing off the tile floor. Just as he was going to reach out and touch the crystal, a throat loudly cleared behind him.

He jumped nearly a foot in the air and spun around, spotting Porla staring at him, unimpressed. "When my guards informed me that you were snooping around here, I had hoped you would have left this area well enough alone once you saw I did not want any trespassers… I see now that I was mistaken."

"What can I say, I'm an adventurous spirit, I like exploring. Showing me a hidden area I'm not supposed to go in is like placing a sign on the door saying 'open for business'. Add that with the fact that the guards were gone, I honestly couldn't resist." Katsuro admitted.

Jose's face grew hard. "I want to believe you, truly I do. But I chose to remove my guards to see what exactly you wanted from this room, not on some whim or accident. If you truly just wanted to know what was in here, why did you gravitate so quickly to our mutual acquaintance's lacrima crystal? Has Miss Lockser been telling guild secrets?"

"I don't know what you mean. I was just curious, and I'm rather fond of the color blue." his stance shifted from a casual one to defensive, tensed one ready for a fight.

"My boy, I have lived a long life, and in all those years, I have been made a fool of very few times. We both know why you're here, what you are trying to do. Do us both a courtesy and admit it."

Katsuro gave a put upon sign, as though it was a great effort to speak. "Fine… I suppose I can admit that I was here to smash the lacrima, as it gives you power over Juvia that would make her do things she wouldn't normally do, such as oh I don't know, **kidnapping someone innocent!**" he shouted the last part, dropping the guise of cordiality altogether.

"First off, no one is innocent in this world. I don't know how you've made it so far as a mage and haven't learned that lesson yet. Secondly, the Element Four knew what they were signing up for when they granted me permission to connect them to these lacrima, I did not force them into it. The only one that even has problems performing contracts that I assign has ever been Juvia. She allows her morals, her-her sense of what is right to get between her and the job. That is not a healthy way for a mage to function, as occasionally, and this does happen, we are forced to choose jobs without a happy ending to get paid!" he raised his own voice, though his was raspier than Katsuro's. "Sometimes there is no right, only wrong! In our line of work we must accept that, or you simply can't make it."

"I guess we'll have to agree to disagree there. I believe in being a mage without having to sacrifice my principles. Just because you failed at it doesn't mean everyone will." Katsuro taunted.

"I failed… ME! I am Jose Porla, Wizard Saint, Guild Master, one of the most powerful mages in Fiore! If I say it isn't possible I think I know what I am referring to." Porla roared.

"Fine, let me rephrase that. Just because you never had any morals to begin with, doesn't mean all mages must be the same."

"You should have joined those weaklings at fairy tail… the dribble you spout would fit in much better there." he growled.

"No wonder they irk you so much, they represent your theory's flaws. They show that you aren't right, that mages can reach greatness without sacrificing themselves."

"I will make you regret those words, brat."

"You might try, but I'll still win in the end." Katsuro stated.

"Oh, and how would you go about that?"

"By destroying this Lacrima right behind me!" he quickly spun, drawing his sword as he went to bring it down on the crystal, but the nature mage felt a… presence of some sort pass through him, and as it went Katsuro felt as though the thing absorbed what felt like half his magical energy in one fell swoop. Dropping his sword, he fell to a knee, gasping.

"I'm sure you are just dying to know what you felt just then." Jose glibly stated,

"Would be nice…" he croaked.

"That would be my shade magic. I can spawn phantoms that will pass through you and absorb magical energy as they go, feeding it back to me. There is no earth here, boy. No potted plants, no nature of any sort. You are out of your element, literally. Katsuro Toran, you stand no chance against me here. Surrender now, and I shall remove your guild mark and send you on your way."

"See, I would do that, but I'm close to Juvia, she's probably my only friend. And my father, he always told me that friends and family were worth fighting for. I didn't get the chance to fight for him, but I have a chance here to fight for Juvia. All I gotta do is take out this lacrima, I don't have to beat you. Just one crystal stands between me and victory. It isn't a matter of you overpowering me, the question is can you stop me in my tracks!" Katsuro gloated, drawing his wakizashi, picking his katana up off the ground, and standing up once again.

Glancing to his left, then to his right, he noticed Porla had summoned a dozen of the shades, and the numbers were still increasing the longer he stared. By the time he turned to dash at the lacrima, there were already two dozen zooming right at him. He was sprinting all out, trying to get to the thing before they could get to him. He raised both blades high above his head, smashing them down on the crystal once, twice, the most he was managing was scratching them at present.

Katsuro was forced on the move by the encroaching spirits, running around the room dodging them at random as they popped up. The mage went to go to the crystal for another attempt, and saw that Porla had surrounded it with shades.

"Shit." he muttered under his breath, changing his route once again to make a move for Porla himself, but was forced to turn again upon seeing Porla had his own ghostly guards flanking him.

"Fuck it, you wanna play, I'll play Porla!" he thundered, charging back at the crystal. He passed straight through another ghost, stumbling as it absorbed more of his magic, recovering quickly nonetheless. Another ghost, at this point Katsuro was pale, but still moving forward, though his pace had slowed significantly. As he passed through the final ghost between him and the crystal, he dropped once again to his knees, his vision blurry and body too heavy to move.

"Bas-bastard." he breathed.

"You should have taken my offer, brat. Now you're paying the price. Aria, take him to the dungeons!" the same doors Katsuro passed through opened again, and a tall man wearing a blindfold and a green fedora walked in, his coat of the same color trailing around his ankles.

"As you wish, Master. But still, it's such a tragedy! The hero fails to secure his beloved's freedom! Such sadness!" Katsuro could easily see why Juvia called him insane now, even half unconscious his mind still understood that guy was completely off his rocker.

"And make sure you cuff him! I wouldn't want him to escape before Juvia returns, that could complicate the mission with how close they've become." Jose commanded.

"Oh, also Aria. Once you're done, give his swords to Gajeel. I wouldn't want to leave them lying in plain sight, and I remember him saying he wanted to taste them." he chuckled.

"If that metal head touches my swords I'll shove his arms down his throat next!" katsuro slurred, still on the precipice of sleep.

"Shush brat, your opinion is neither wanted nor needed. Matter of fact, Aria, send him to the sandman before you cuff him."

"Yes sir." he put a large hand on Katsuro's shoulder, and he felt the last dregs of his magic sucked out of him, knocking him out instantly.

_**-LINE BREAK-**_

When he woke, Katsuro almost felt too weak to even breathe, forget moving. He was laying on a plain cot in a small brick-walled cell, two iron doors with barred windows revealing both a door to the outside and a door into Phantom castle's bowels. The nature mage was forced to be content with the view of the sky and clouds from the outer door, as he was sure he couldn't get up to actually look outside.

Katsuro was unsure how long he'd been asleep for, but he put it somewhere between not very long or over a day, definitely one of the two. His musing was put on hold by a bang in a cell to his right.

"Hey! Blue Girl, weirdo! Let me out of here! What did I do to you guys anyway. For that matter, what did Fairy Tail do to Phantom to make you all destroy our guild hall and crucify our friends!"

'Survey says it was over a day, not a short nap…' he thought humorously. He tried to answer her but he was so weak all that came out was a slight croak.

"Hello! I'm sure that someone out there can hear me! I don't think you guys would just dump me specifically in a cell and leave me here. There are stronger mages you could've taken if you wanted to weaken Fairy Tail, so you took me for a reason!" he reasoned loudly.

'Fairly smart deduction. Wonder if she's already guessing it's about her name.'

"Yes, I can hear you Miss Lucy. Hold on just a moment while I come in." he heard Porla speak, before a series of clanks signified the door unlocking, followed by a louder clank of the door closing back.

"Now that we are face to face, I shall endeavor to answer any questions you may have."

"Why the hell did you have me kidnapped!" she snapped.

"I think you know the answer to that just as well as I do… Miss Heartfilia."

"W-w-what?! How do you know that name?" she panicked.

"Simple. Your father contracted my guild to return you to him."

"I should have guessed he'd have a hand in this somehow… but that doesn't explain why you destroyed Fairy Tail's guild hall or hurt Levy, Jet, and Droy."

"That was Gajeel's doing, I'm afraid. I needed him to rile Fairy Tail up so they would be distracted when you were taken. A sort of sleight of hand, you see. Keep their eyes on one thing, while something completely different is going on elsewhere." he explained.

'Bullshit, he just wants Fairy Tail gone and saw his opportunity.' Katsuro thought mutinously.

"So… this is my fault." Lucy murmured sadly.

"Not entirely. I will admit to holding a strong dislike of Fairy Tail, and I chose this job to put in motion a plan to rid me of Makarov and his band of fools. Taking your father's job was just the match that lit the flame, as it were."

"They won't let you get away with this, you know! Fairy Tail will come for me!" she yelled defiantly.

"That's exactly what I'm counting on, my dear," Porla Laughed. "You didn't expect me to face Fairy Tail on their turf, did you? No, I'll make them come to us!"

"Since you're answering questions, I don't suppose you'd tell me about a way out of here, would you?" he would have laughed at her attempt to sound sultry to Porla if he could, Katsuro doubted the man even **had** a sex drive.

"I will indeed. It is just through that door there. It's even unlocked. Go on, check."

Katsuro heard rusty hinges moving, followed by a scream.

"You're crazy! Why would you put a door on the side of a freaking cliff!"

"One can never say that Phantom holds anyone prisoner. They have a way out, every cell." he laughed again.

The next thing he heard was Porla's screech, and subsequent collapse onto the floor.

"That… was not very nice." he groaned.

"That's what you get for taking me hostage, old man!"

"Watch your tone, girl, or I may yet throw you out of that door!"

In the distance, as faint as a whisper, Katsuro thought he heard someone shouting. He thought he imagined it at first, as a matter of fact. But when it persisted, growing slightly louder as it came closer, though still so faint it could be missed, he knew it actually **was** someone screaming, Lucy's name to be specific. Apparently she heard it too, for her next words were. "You know what… I think I will take the exit. Because he'll catch me." she spoke softly, fondly, clearly close to whoever it was. He heard Porla's urgent shout to stop, but it was too late, the winds were already taking her scream when the door swung shut once again.

It hurt like hell, but Katsuro was sure that nothing could wipe the smile off his face that he gained at listening to Jose's scream of rage. A few moments passed while the Guildmaster collected himself, then the door to his own cell opened, revealing a slightly red-faced Jose.

Seeing he was awake, Porla spat. "I suppose you found that very funny, didn't you."

Katsuro just did his best to smile wider, still too weak to do much else

"Since you thought it was so funny, why don't you join her!" he picked up Katsuro by the collar, slammed open the door, and tossed him out into the open air. Katsuro's eyes widened dramatically as he got one last look at Porla, having not expected him to snap and actually murder him.

He fell quickly, his eyes blurring with tears as he watched the rapidly approaching ground, unable to even voice a last word. He closed his eyes before he knew he would impact and thought. 'Damn, guess I won't be able to help Juvia after all, sorry.'

The nature mage opened his eyes a few seconds later to see that he was floating a few feet off the ground, suspended by a… winged blue cat? 'Fairy tail mages sure are weird.' he reflected.

"I got him Natsu! I caught him!"

"Nice catch buddy! Bring him down."

"Aye sir! but uh Natsu, you should know this guy has a Phantom guild mark."

"What? Why did he fall out of a cell door then?" Lucy questioned.

Katsuro summoned every ounce of strength he had, and uttered, "Help…" then promptly passed back out.

_**-POV CHANGE-**_

__By the time they hit Magnolia, Juvia was nearly at the point of performing a pagan sacrificial ritual to replace Sol with Katsuro with how tired she was of him. The entire trip over had been nothing but gloating about himself, grumbling about Katsuro or over exaggerating how strong he was in their match. Or, and this was Juvia's favorite, calling his victory a fluke and saying that next time he'd win for sure.

To say the least, Sol's personality was an acquired taste Juvia just could not acquire. Even going by train, the trip had still nearly gotten on her last nerve. When they exited the train, Juvia tried to speed walk to get some distance between them, but the bastards long legs gave him an advantage on Juvia that she couldn't outrun without being visibly rude.

Surprisingly, they didn't encounter a single fairy tail mage while they were making their way to Lucy's apartment. Juvia thought it was awfully suspicious, but Sol assured her that it was all part of Master Porla's plan. Unfortunately her home was empty, so the duo were forced to set up watch and wait for her to return. When she did, her arms held a small celestial spirit, which looked similar to a snowman, but she was oblivious to her surroundings. Juvia chose to get up close to ensure it was actually the Heartfilia heiress.

She got within speaking distance, and spoke softly. "Lucy?" she inquired.

When the girl turned to face her, Juvia was completely sure it was the same woman from the photo. "Juvia is afraid she must ask you to come with her. Please do not try to fight, Juvia has no wish to harm you, but she will do what she must to capture you."

"Who are y-wait, You're from Phantom, aren't you! Are you the ones that hurt Levy, Jet, and Droy?" she angrily demanded, hands flying to her keys.

Juvia sighed sadly, and motioned with her hand. "**Water Lock.**" Suddenly water flew up from the canal they were standing beside, and formed a sphere around Lucy, and a strong current unhooked her keys from her belt and dropped them on the pavement. Lucy held her breath as long as she could, but soon she passed out, and Juvia dropped her to the ground.

"I shall carry her to the master, _mademoiselle_. Jose will wish for us to return to headquarters post haste in case of retaliation."

"Then let's go. Juvia wants to be done with this as soon as possible."

They warily waited at the train station for nearly 3 minutes to catch the next one to Oak Town, watching carefully for any mages coming from the general direction of Fairy Tail. their luck held true however, and they boarded the train without problems.

That same luck lasted all the way back to Phantom, but once they entered the doors they saw mages running around like chickens with their heads cut off, attempting to treat wounded Phantom mages that were sprawled out on the tables and floor. Juvia wondered what happened, but Sol urged her to go report to the master while he carried Lucy to the dungeon cells.

His study was pristine as ever, and Porla was sitting at his desk filling out a stack of paperwork nearly half as tall as Juvia. He smiled ruefully at her upon her entrance. "The bane of Guildmasters the world across, Miss Lockser… Paperwork. I'm sure it's driven many a man to madness. But I digress, I assume the capture of the Heartfilia girl was a success."

"Sol is taking her to the dungeons as we speak, master. Might Juvia ask what happened while we were away?"

"Our diversion happened. As I said before, I had this all planned out. We riled up Fairy Tail enough for them to attack here, but I knew for a fact that Lucy had just returned from a mission and was unlikely to join them in the assault so soon after her return. But with most of their guild storming our Magnolia branch, we were able to clear them out of Magnolia town so you could go in unimpeded and collect the target. What you saw down there were the injuries our side incurred during the fight."

"Did we win?"

"Oh yes!" he cackled. "I tricked Makarov into thinking I was there, when the entire time it was an illusion with Aria hidden away to take his magical energy. Last I saw he was half dead on the floor. Fairy Tail is leaderless, very soon we will be able to finish them off."

"That's… nice Juvia supposes." she said for lack of anything else coming to mind.

"Indeed it is. Though not all the news I have for you is nice, I'm afraid."

"News for Juvia? What is it?" she asked concernedly.

"I'm afraid your friend, Mister Toran, has left Phantom Lord while you were away. He came to my office, said he could not support an outright guild war and asked me to remove his mark. He did tell me to say goodbye to you, though, and that you were a good friend for the time he was here."

"J-Juvia doesn't understand…" she whispered, her eyes growing moist.

"Yes it is a shame. The boy truly did have potential, and I saw how happy you two were around each other, but I suppose everyone has their limits on what they'll do."

"Juvia… understands. May she be dismissed, master?" her voice shook only slightly, betraying her inner emotions. Otherwise, she had turned her face to a blank mask that hid everything inside.

"Yes. I am sorry for your separation from your friend. Some alone time to come to terms with everything might be best."

"Thank you." with that she left his office, mind whirring.

'Did he really leave Juvia… she doesn't think he would, especially with all the talks they had the past few days. The real question is, did the master do something to him? Did he find the lacrima and force Jose's hand? Ugh there's too much that could have happened while Juvia was gone! She just hopes he's alright.' she finished concernedly.

"Psst, rain woman, get over here." a voice hissed from a side room.

"Gajeel?" she warily inquired.

"Yea, get your ass in here now. We gotta talk."

"What's going on? We were never that close so Juvia doesn't-"

"It's about your boy toy, the nature mage."

Juvia froze for a moment, then asked lowly. "What about him?"

"Porla did something to him. I don't know what, but Aria gave me the bastard's swords

and told me to keep 'em away from you."

"Then why tell me?"

"Because I've got dragon slayer hearing, and I remember him saying these are his dad's

swords. I might be a dick at times, but even I can respect sentimental value. Hell I've got nothing of my dad from when he disappeared years ago. I don't know where he is, but the fact that the master gave me these ain't a good sign."

"Juvia agrees. Will you… give Juvia the swords? So she can return them once she finds him?" Juvia refused to even think about him being dead.

"Yea, here." he pulled them from behind his back, and Juvia clung onto them like a

lifeline, storing them in her water body so no one would know she had them.

Gajeel was about to walk off, but Juvia grabbed his wrist and muttered. "Thank you, Gajeel, you didn't have to do this, it really means a lot. Juvia and Katsuro both owe you for this."

"Don't bring it up. Ever. Can't have people ruining my reputation." he smirked and shook his wrist free, strolling off with his hands in his pockets.

Juvia stared after him for a moment, not believing this new side to Gajeel actually existed, before her brain caught up with the events and she began panicking, wondering what actually happened to her friend for him to leave behind possibly his two most valued possessions.

She searched the castle up and down for any sign of him, but came up short on all accounts. She even asked Sol if he'd seen anyone down in the dungeons, but he simply said that the dungeon was empty when he dropped the Heartfilia girl in a cell. She couldn't go down there to check sadly, because by the time she'd checked the other parts of the castle, Jose was already down there speaking to Lucy.

It was a subdued Juvia that made her way to her and Katsuro's booth. She couldn't focus on a book to read, having tried but just stared at a page for over twenty minutes worrying over her missing friend. She was startled out of her musings when Porla stormed into the guildhall, red-faced, and clearly absolutely livid. The noise level dropped to the point you could hear a pin drop as guild members, both injured and non injured, stared at their furious master.

"We're going back to Magnolia! This time we'll wipe out Fairy Tail in its entirety! Along with the ground around it! Phantom Keep operators, prepare to mobilize!" a few witches and wizards sprang up around the guild hall and started climbing the stairs up to the command room, the same room that controlled both the jupiter cannon and Phantom Lord's secret trump card, their ability to relocate their guild hall through the use of giant spider legs that carry the castle wherever Porla wants.

"Here we go again." Gajeel muttered from behind her, startling her.

"Juvia just wants this to end so she can find Katsuro." she said aggravatedly.

"Eh, at least this'll give me another chance to fight Salamander. Bastard got a few lucky hits on me at the Magnolia guild branch." he grunted.

"Juvia hopes you enjoy yourself." she absent-mindedly added.

"You know I will." Gajeel laughed.

_**-POV CHANGE-**_

Katsuro woke with a mighty groan stretching his limbs, both relishing and cringing at the pops he heard. Opening his eyes, the room he was in was completely devoid of other people, something he took as a blessing at this point in time. The room itself was small, everything located in close quarters and packed together to leave a clear walking lane. The nature mage was slow in rising, all his limbs still stiff from disuse over the past who knows how long. This was a definite improvement over last time, though, as he could move again, and he was out of his cell!

He turned his back to the door to look at a portrait of a pink haired woman standing next to three others, the one of whom he clearly recognized was Porla, albeit a younger one. Suddenly he was whacked in the back of the head by a wooden stick, and nearly dropped the picture on the floor in his rush to grab onto the bashed area. He spun around to find the pink haired lady from the picture, however she too had aged, and grown old.

"Sit down!" she punctuated both words with more whacks.

"Alright, alright! Chill out!" he pleaded, practically sprinting back to his bed.

"Stay there while I go fetch your medicine." apparently she had grown old AND crotchety. He saw her open a door to another room, and saw a second bed, with a short old man lying in it, unconscious with a green tinge to his skin. When she returned, she carried a tray laden with different bottles. After practically forcing him to drink from two of them, she stomped outside and left him alone once again. He could still hear her screeching from outside, nevertheless, but alone.

"Hurry up! The sooner he and Makarov are gone, the sooner I can go back to my solitude. He's ready to leave, at least, though he won't be up to very much fighting until his magical core replenishes. Make sure he takes it easy, if he winds up back here I'll wind up treating a concussion along with magical exhaustion." Katsuro winced at this. "Go! What are you waiting for, an invitation?"

He was treated to not one, but four people entering the small abode. He remembered Lucy's face from the picture, but the other three were strangers to him. They stared at each other for a few moments, before the pink haired male broke the silence. "So, wanna tell us what the hell happened?"

Katsuro chuckled mirthlessly. "That… is a long and convoluted story that I'd rather not go into."

The armored redhead spoke up next. "We would prefer if you could at least explain enough to let us judge whether or not we can trust you. Whether you were in their cells or not, you still bear the Phantom Lord guild sigil, that alone casts you into doubt."

The nature mage sighed. "I guess I can do that much, considering I'm mainly alive because of you guys… tell me, did I imagine a flying blue haired cat, or was that real. Because it's outrageous enough that I believe I could've imagined it."

"That's my buddy, Happy. I'm Natsu!" pinky explained.

"Alright, well tell Happy he has my thanks. Pretty sure I'd be a stain outside Phantom Castle if it wasn't for him."

"Now will you tell us why the hell Phantom's doing all this?" the shirtless man questioned.

"Two reasons. One is that her father, Jude Heartfilia, put out a contract to bring her back to him and our Guildmaster is a serious brown-noser in that he liked to create influence for phantom everywhere he can. He saw this job as an in with the upper class I'm assuming. The second is that he has a hate boner for Fairy Tail. he seriously loathes you all and would be perfectly happy to wipe you off the map. He saw the job as an opportunity to start that."

"That explains Phantom's involvement, but what about you? Why were you in a cell, let alone thrown out to die." the armored one asked.

"Because I betrayed them," he shrugged. "Porla was forcing someone I cared about to do something she didn't want to do, namely Kidnapping you, Lucy. I tried to find a way to free her from the advantage he held, but I was found out. The situation was not advantageous for me, and I got my ass handed to me and my magic drained. When Lucy escaped, he stormed into my cell and… I don't know, I guess he decided killing me was stress relief. I was still too weak to move so I couldn't really fight back, he just tossed me out the door like a sack of potatoes."

"Wait… the blue girl, the one with blue hair and clothes, was she your friend?" Lucy asked.

"Yeah, that's Juvia. She didn't want to take the job, but she was kind of forced to because one of Phantom's secret weapons utilizes a lacrima connected to her magic. Porla could've drained her until she collapsed and then some with that thing. She didn't have any choice in the matter so please don't judge her too harshly." he spoke quickly trying to allay any hard feelings she might have gotten from her capture.

"Have this conversation outside of my house, you damn kids!" the old crone yelled, sending all of them running out of the house when she picked up her broom.

They stopped near the edge of the forest, and Katsuro started laughing, laughing so hard he fell on his ass, which set off Lucy and Natsu, though the redhead and stripper maintained their decorum, they were still chuckling. "I thought about it when the cat rescued me, now I'll say it. You Fairy Tail mages sure are weird."

"Nah, we're awesome!" Natsu boasted.

"Interesting, at the least." the stripper amended.

The group sat there for a moment, then Katsuro got back up and told them. "Well this has been great, but I need to get back to Phantom and try to find a way to help Juvia. I'll tear that fucking castle down brick by brick if that's what it takes to get to that lacrima."

"We'll help you, we've got a score to settle anyway. These bastards destroyed our guildhall, hurt our friends, and kidnapped Lucy! I think it's time we kicked some Phantom ass." Natsu declared.

"We shouldn't be hasty Natsu. With the master injured, we are at an extreme disadvantage against Porla. Remember, he is still a wizard saint, whether he is good or evil he is very powerful."

"Come on Erza, we can't just leave this guy hanging! He needs our help and he seems like a good guy!"

"I never said we wouldn't help him, just that we shouldn't be hasty. We must be cautious in dealing with Jose."

"For what it's worth I agree with Erza, we weren't careful the first time and look at what happened. I think we're lucky the master survived. That could've been much worse. We got lucky." shirtless stated.

"Shut up Ice-crotch, no one asked for your opinion!"

"No one did for yours either fire brains!"

"Natsu! Grey! Now is not the time!" Erza asserted, bashing their heads together hard enough to make Katsuro wince in sympathy.

Lucy tapped Katsuro on the shoulder. "You might as well come back with us to our guild hall. You'll have our help, but we still need to make a plan before we go charging in there to fight them again."

"I can't ask you all to do that for-"

"You're not. We're doing it for us just as much as you. You heard Natsu. You heard what they did to us. We're just allying with you to take them down." she smiled at him.

"Damn it… fine. Let's go then." Natsu cheered at his acceptance, and began leading them back to Fairy Tail energetically, dragging Lucy along by her hand.

It was a short trip back to their guild hall, or what was left after Gajeel's assault. He was led down into the basement, where resided a bunch of mages who looked defeated. They were huddled in quiet groups, muttering amongst themselves.

They grew quiet as Katsuro walked by with Team Natsu, looking at the new mage. He went straight up to the bar and asked the lady behind the counter for water, as it felt like he hadn't had anything to drink besides the medicine from earlier for days. She gave him a wide smile, entirely unlike the rest of the guild, and got his drink quickly.

"Thank you." he murmured around his cup.

"No problem." the white haired woman chirped.

Natsu beckoned him back over to them after he'd dragged over a few chairs to an empty table. Once he meandered back over and sat down, the quintet began talking shop, but they were interrupted shortly into their planning by a brunette in either a bikini or just a bra, Katsuro couldn't really tell from their table, shouting about how Phantom Lord was outside. The group ran up the stairs, outside the ruined guild hall, expecting to see mages swarming the place. It was only when they looked out into the water that Katsuro muttered. "What the holy shit… Juvia didn't tell me about this." there was a giant castle marching towards them over the sea. Katsuro recognized this castle, hell he was thrown out of it! It was Phantom Keep, and the Jupiter Cannon was on full display, appearing fully operational and ready for use.

"We need to Evacuate the area now!" Katsuro shouted urgently.

"**Mages of Fairy Tail… I come before you with an ultimatum. Surrender Lucy Heartfilia to me within one hour, or face extermination!**" Porla's voice echoed across the water.

_**-CHAPTER END-**_

AN: man I was full of inspiration for sword and the storm this week! Hopefully I'll be able to finish out phantom lord arc before i switch over to writing for fresh start or wandering mage or DOF. but who knows. Anywho hope y'all enjoyed R&R pls. See y'all next time.


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